Hawaii Wildfires Kill 36, Hit Maui Island Resort City

Photo: Los Angeles Times

(Reuters) - At least 36 people have died after wildfires, fanned by winds from a faraway hurricane, devastated much of the resort city Lahaina on Hawaii's Maui island, the Maui County said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Multiple neighborhoods were burnt to the ground as the western side of the island was nearly cut off, with only one highway open and thousands to evacuate as officials told of widespread devastation to Lahaina, its harbor and surrounding areas.

Some people fled into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. Officials said the winds from Hurricane Dora, hundreds of miles to the southwest, had fanned the flames across the state.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said late on Wednesday that the National Weather Service has canceled the "Red Flag Warning" and "High Wind Advisory" for all Hawaiian islands.

With firefighters battling three major blazes, western Maui was closed to all but emergency workers and evacuees. Some 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing official reports from flyovers conducted by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department.

More than 11,000 travelers were evacuated from Maui, Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation said late on Wednesday. Though at least 16 roads were closed, the Maui airport was operating fully and airlines were dropping fares and offering waivers to get people off the island, Sniffen had said earlier in the day.

The situation in Hawaii recalled scenes of devastation elsewhere in the world this summer, as wildfires caused by record-setting heat forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe, and western Canada suffered unusually severe fires.

Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, scientists say, having long warned that government officials must slash emissions to prevent climate catastrophe.