Maui

[dockman]

• #512  

Posted 1 minute ago

 

I live in honolulu so have seen lots and lots of video and stories from Maui...bottom line is :Lahaina is simply GONE...over 2000 buildings burned and so far 93 dead but search of ashes is only less than 5% complete as they are having to bring in a lot more cadaver dogs from mainland...in short it is HORRIBLE..

 

My condo and i am sure many others in Honolulu asked people to go through their pantry and closet and donate non perishable food/clothing etc by putting it in lobby area two days ago...great idea and the lobby was pretty well full of canned foods/clothes/diapers/paper towels etc...not sure how it all gets shipped to maui but lot of maui folks lost EVERYTHING and had only what the were wearing when they fled for their lives..

 

They now estimate 5.5 billion to rebuild and years before it will get done..My guess is it will be a lot more $$ and at least 3 or 4 years...one huge problem is housing for all the construction workers that will be needed....maui already had  a severe housing shortage which of course now is even worse....the gov is talking to the hotels to try and work out getting the hotels to house people for as long as it takes....many of these hotels have been making record profits for years with room rates of $500 or more...i hope that now the big hotels will step up and not try and gouge from this disaster...many of the people who lost everthing are the very maids, bellboys etc that worked at the hotels...and of course the number of construction workers that will need a place to stay for years is huge.

 

Already donations are pouring into maui from all over the world as many truly love the people and place of lahaina and have many great memories from what once was.

 

IF you would like to and can spare please consider a donation...below is a list of vetted places to donate provided by local tv station..

 

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/09/want-help-those-devastated-by-maui-wildfires-heres-how/

[Thrak]

When the nearby town of Paradise burned - November 8, 2018 - my town suddenly grew by more than 20,000 people. It was (and still is) very hard on the town but at least there was somewhere for many of the displaced people to go. With Lahaina there is no such nearby town for people to flee to for help. Paradise it slowly recovering as will Lahaina eventually recover. However, neither town will ever be the same and the people are also forever changed. Given our local experience there will be an outpouring of assistance from the area.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Thrak

[milolii]

Aloha @dockman Mahalo for the update.  We owned a home on Hawaii, Kona side, Milolii, but sold a few years ago.  
 

@Thrak, we know folks from Paradise as well. 
 

Both situations tragic. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by milolii

[Cruisintimer]

Such a tragic situation.  A reputable site to donate that has been reviewed and received awards for their service is mauifoodbank.org, hopefully many will be helped and Laihana will be once again a beautiful port.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

 

• #512  

Posted 1 minute ago

 

I live in honolulu so have seen lots and lots of video and stories from Maui...bottom line is :Lahaina is simply GONE...over 2000 buildings burned and so far 93 dead but search of ashes is only less than 5% complete as they are having to bring in a lot more cadaver dogs from mainland...in short it is HORRIBLE..

 

My condo and i am sure many others in Honolulu asked people to go through their pantry and closet and donate non perishable food/clothing etc by putting it in lobby area two days ago...great idea and the lobby was pretty well full of canned foods/clothes/diapers/paper towels etc...not sure how it all gets shipped to maui but lot of maui folks lost EVERYTHING and had only what the were wearing when they fled for their lives..

 

They now estimate 5.5 billion to rebuild and years before it will get done..My guess is it will be a lot more $$ and at least 3 or 4 years...one huge problem is housing for all the construction workers that will be needed....maui already had  a severe housing shortage which of course now is even worse....the gov is talking to the hotels to try and work out getting the hotels to house people for as long as it takes....many of these hotels have been making record profits for years with room rates of $500 or more...i hope that now the big hotels will step up and not try and gouge from this disaster...many of the people who lost everthing are the very maids, bellboys etc that worked at the hotels...and of course the number of construction workers that will need a place to stay for years is huge.

 

Already donations are pouring into maui from all over the world as many truly love the people and place of lahaina and have many great memories from what once was.

 

IF you would like to and can spare please consider a donation...below is a list of vetted places to donate provided by local tv station..

 

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/09/want-help-those-devastated-by-maui-wildfires-heres-how/

They are now saying donate money not items. Apparently they are getting overwhelmed and do not have the resources to process and distribute what has already arrived, yet alone what has been collected and awaiting shipment.

[dockman]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

They are now saying donate money not items. Apparently they are getting overwhelmed and do not have the resources to process and distribute what has already arrived, yet alone what has been collected and awaiting shipment.

No doubt money is the best way to donate...but loads of local hawaii people have already responded with tons of food and clothing etc and i suspect that over time hawaiian and southwest air and maybe a shipping company will get it all to maui where i am sure  it will be very welcomed by the maui people...imagine fleeing your home with  a pair of shorts a tee shirt and a pair of flip flops is all you have....the people on nearby molokai went to stores (and it is expensive there) and bought all kinds of stuff and used their own boats to transport it to maui...

 

The mayor of maui also wanted to remind potential tourists that south maui, kihei etc is still open for biz and they do need tourist to still come to maui eventually but just be respectful and recognize that lahania is not a place for photo opps as it will be a construction zone for a long time. 

 

I would guess that the kaanapali hotels, nearest to lahaina, will be the ones most appropriate to use as housing displaced locals and constrution workers so probably better if tourists do not use those hotels..

[cr8tiv1]

Maui (as most neighbor islands) really is the poster child for the Aloha Spirit.  You will find the random negative new articles, but for the most part, everyone across all the islands (state) are helping out.  

 

Today's good news.  The newly construction Lahaina dock survived the fire.  It will be instrumental in the recovery efforts as soon as they clear out the sunken vessels.  Hope is that the Banyan Tree will somehow make it through the healing process.  

 

Malama Pono Maui and Lahaina residents.  

Edited August 13, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[azbirdmom]

6 minutes ago, dockman said:

No doubt money is the best way to donate...but loads of local hawaii people have already responded with tons of food and clothing etc and i suspect that over time hawaiian and southwest air and maybe a shipping company will get it all to maui where i am sure  it will be very welcomed by the maui people...imagine fleeing your home with  a pair of shorts a tee shirt and a pair of flip flops is all you have....the people on nearby molokai went to stores (and it is expensive there) and bought all kinds of stuff and used their own boats to transport it to maui...

 

The mayor of maui also wanted to remind potential tourists that south maui, kihei etc is still open for biz and they do need tourist to still come to maui eventually but just be respectful and recognize that lahania is not a place for photo opps as it will be a construction zone for a long time. 

 

I would guess that the kaanapali hotels, nearest to lahaina, will be the ones most appropriate to use as housing displaced locals and constrution workers so probably better if tourists do not use those hotels..

 

While the Hawaii Tourism Authority notices have been limited to asking tourists to refrain from stays in West Maui for the "coming weeks or months", I have also read that housing in other places like Kihei will be needed for displaced locals.  There's also other posts I have seen from locals indicating that Maui is closed, visitors should stay away.

 

I've been paying attention for a variety of reasons - our love of Maui following several dozen visits over the years and of more immediate concern a September reservation.  That reservation happens to be at Puamana, a lovely community at the south end of Lahainatown that suffered much damage from the fires.  Miraculously the townhome that we were to rent still stands but is surround by rubble as it is in the older portion of the community closest to Front Street.  Suffice to say that no one will be residing in that community any time soon.

 

We are holding off on contacting the property management company as the folks there have enough personal things to take care of.  I know some of their staff have lost homes and I pray that all of their staff have been accounted for.  Their offices are in Kaanapali and while intact that area has been without power since Tuesday.  So we will be patient and wait for signs that they have staff ready to focus on work again.

 

I will echo that contributing to reputable charities that will help those affected by the fires is the best thing to do.  I have also been contributing to Go Fund Me campaigns set up by some of the Front Street restaurants that we have frequented in the past.  In making one such donation I figured out the amount of tips we would have spent there next month and rounded up.

 

It's horrible and devastating what happened to beautiful Maui, just so hard to fathom this sort of thing happening.

[Thrak]

My local newspaper (yes, I still read the local paper even though I do it electronically) is recommending:

 

https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/home

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, dockman said:

No doubt money is the best way to donate...but loads of local hawaii people have already responded with tons of food and clothing etc and i suspect that over time hawaiian and southwest air and maybe a shipping company will get it all to maui where i am sure  it will be very welcomed by the maui people...imagine fleeing your home with  a pair of shorts a tee shirt and a pair of flip flops is all you have....the people on nearby molokai went to stores (and it is expensive there) and bought all kinds of stuff and used their own boats to transport it to maui...

 

The mayor of maui also wanted to remind potential tourists that south maui, kihei etc is still open for biz and they do need tourist to still come to maui eventually but just be respectful and recognize that lahania is not a place for photo opps as it will be a construction zone for a long time. 

 

I would guess that the kaanapali hotels, nearest to lahaina, will be the ones most appropriate to use as housing displaced locals and constrution workers so probably better if tourists do not use those hotels..

A number of the Kaanapali hotels do not have power  and not expected to have it back for a couple of weeks.

 

Also access limited due to restricted traffic via the main road leaving only the back route which is 1 lane in places.

[cr8tiv1]

My niece is a Fire Captain with a CA city.  But a local girl still with ties to the islands.  She told me today that it will take MONTHS for the cadaver dogs to find victims and have them identified.

 

LA sent a couple of teams of dogs over today.  They are part of the Federal USAR (Search and Rescue).  

 

The immediate (fire out) danger is over.  But the long recovery is still to come.  Please do not forget the people in Lahaina.  My daughter and her young family are discussing this over dinner.  So many of us have been to Lahaina and have beautiful memories of the place.  Continue to send your support in whatever manner is comfortable for you.  

[dockman]

2 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

While the Hawaii Tourism Authority notices have been limited to asking tourists to refrain from stays in West Maui for the "coming weeks or months", I have also read that housing in other places like Kihei will be needed for displaced locals.  There's also other posts I have seen from locals indicating that Maui is closed, visitors should stay away.

 

I've been paying attention for a variety of reasons - our love of Maui following several dozen visits over the years and of more immediate concern a September reservation.  That reservation happens to be at Puamana, a lovely community at the south end of Lahainatown that suffered much damage from the fires.  Miraculously the townhome that we were to rent still stands but is surround by rubble as it is in the older portion of the community closest to Front Street.  Suffice to say that no one will be residing in that community any time soon.

 

We are holding off on contacting the property management company as the folks there have enough personal things to take care of.  I know some of their staff have lost homes and I pray that all of their staff have been accounted for.  Their offices are in Kaanapali and while intact that area has been without power since Tuesday.  So we will be patient and wait for signs that they have staff ready to focus on work again.

 

I will echo that contributing to reputable charities that will help those affected by the fires is the best thing to do.  I have also been contributing to Go Fund Me campaigns set up by some of the Front Street restaurants that we have frequented in the past.  In making one such donation I figured out the amount of tips we would have spent there next month and rounded up.

 

It's horrible and devastating what happened to beautiful Maui, just so hard to fathom this sort of thing happening.

The question was asked by a reporter at a news conference last night and was worded something like are tourists still welcome in maui...the mayor said rather strongly that YES eventually but he did point out that a day or two ago when they opened part of the road for people to at least see from a distance if their house was still standing but DO NOT go into restricted areas that are still being searched for bodies etc....apparently a few tourists disregarded the clear instructions and went right into the restricted area tromping around taking pics...the mayor then graphically explained that this area still had not been searched and that many of them contained bone fragments which needed to be recovered and sent for dna testing so they can identify victims and that the fire was so hot it had melted metal and many of the bone fragments were almost reduced to dust and sure did not need people tramping around as disrespectfull to the dead and made recovery even harder......the mayor of course was pretty harsh on this calling it rude,  as they had to close the road again due to bad behavior people (also a few locals disobeyed)..you could tell he was pretty pissed and emotional over this as most would be.

 

.the mayor then did go on to say that tourism is important to the peope of maui and specifically mentioned kihei area would eventually want to welcome tourists again but not right now and that basically lahaina would be off limits for a long long time..and that he would ask future tourist to show respect to the maui people that had lost friends and realtives not to mention their homes etc when the tourists do return....the news conference was on KITV and very informative and probably can watch it all on KITV web site i guess.

[dockman]

https://www.kitv.com/news/tourism-for-west-maui-discouraged-but-other-portions-of-maui-are-open-for-tourists/article_274d0df0-39f0-11ee-8901-b7a129841b01.html

[azbirdmom]

18 minutes ago, dockman said:

the news conference was on KITV and very informative and probably can watch it all on KITV web site i guess.

 

It's out on MauiNow.com also.  I've been checking that site quite a bit given what I mentioned in my original post.

[azbirdmom]

8 minutes ago, dockman said:

https://www.kitv.com/news/tourism-for-west-maui-discouraged-but-other-portions-of-maui-are-open-for-tourists/article_274d0df0-39f0-11ee-8901-b7a129841b01.html

 

Thank you for that.  Our flight is supposed to arrive on Maui on September 20th and United's travel waiver doesn't extend that far (yet).  We may look into Kihei - may be a good alternative as long as our presence won't do more harm than good!

Edited August 13, 2023 by azbirdmom

[dockman]

30 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Thank you for that.  Our flight is supposed to arrive on Maui on September 20th and United's travel waiver doesn't extend that far (yet).  We may look into Kihei - may be a good alternative as long as our presence won't do more harm than good!

Kihei and wailea area has some beautiful hotels and beachs...i do hope that they don't decide to gouge people who want to come there as no doubt the demand will be high and the supply is very limited. Who knows if september will be ok so i encourage you to keep checking on the web for updates as they come along....but u may want to go ahead and try and make a refundable res in kihei area now rather than wait...i have no idea if the hotels are even accepting more res yet.  Maui is a big beautiful island and you could go and see a lot of pretty places without even going near lahaina when the time is right.

[mcrcruiser]

Our Church is a very large Evangilical Church with out reach via TV to all 50 states & the world .Next Sunday ,the head pastor announced the Church will organize a Love Collection will be taken up .I can assure every oe here that the collection will be very successful .  In the USA there are 65.000,000 evangilical people . Their churches will also take up collections . We believe in helping our neighbors 

[CaribbeanBound]

Well, at an average contribution of $10 each, that's a hefty $650 Million collection to help rebuild Maui.

[BarbinMich]

On 8/13/2023 at 4:02 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

Maui (as most neighbor islands) really is the poster child for the Aloha Spirit.  You will find the random negative new articles, but for the most part, everyone across all the islands (state) are helping out.  

 

Today's good news.  The newly construction Lahaina dock survived the fire.  It will be instrumental in the recovery efforts as soon as they clear out the sunken vessels.  Hope is that the Banyan Tree will somehow make it through the healing process.  

 

Malama Pono Maui and Lahaina residents.  

My husband and I spent a number of one-week stays on Maui after he retired.  It was so heartbreaking to see the results of the fire.  I, too, hope the magnificent banyan tree survives!!

[Morebeer]

Know NCL has that Pride of America ship based there in Honolulu. Does anyone know if its being used to transport supplies or for housing on Maui?

[CruiserBruce]

14 minutes ago, Morebeer said:

Know NCL has that Pride of America ship based there in Honolulu. Does anyone know if its being used to transport supplies or for housing on Maui?

Seriously doubt it. Check on the NCL board to see if there is any discussion about canceling POA cruises.

 

From other sources, supposedly over 1000 hotel rooms have been secured. They are working to get vacation townhouses and condo secured for long term housing. They are working on the estimate that 5k people are displaced and will require long-term housing. Keep in mind there are approximately 70k tourists visiting Maui on any given day. They should be able, given some time, get housing for all of them.

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Seriously doubt it. Check on the NCL board to see if there is any discussion about canceling POA cruises.

 

From other sources, supposedly over 1000 hotel rooms have been secured. They are working to get vacation townhouses and condo secured for long term housing. They are working on the estimate that 5k people are displaced and will require long-term housing. Keep in mind there are approximately 70k tourists visiting Maui on any given day. They should be able, given some time, get housing for all of them.

 

Here's a hiccup regarding short term rentals.  Several counties (not sure about Maui, but definitely Honolulu) recently passed a bill that restricting "short term" rentals meaning 30 days or longer (excluding airbnb, hotels, etc).  So many landlords are locked into long term rentals.  The mayor of Honolulu suspended that, but it doesn't help that there is already a housing shortage.

 

NCL Pride of America has not suspended their voyages.  They are just adjusting their itinerary to not stop/over night in Kahului.  All cruise ships are respecting the disaster on Maui and not calling on the island.  

[CruiserBruce]

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Here's a hiccup regarding short term rentals.  Several counties (not sure about Maui, but definitely Honolulu) recently passed a bill that restricting "short term" rentals meaning 30 days or longer (excluding airbnb, hotels, etc).  So many landlords are locked into long term rentals.  The mayor of Honolulu suspended that, but it doesn't help that there is already a housing shortage.

 

NCL Pride of America has not suspended their voyages.  They are just adjusting their itinerary to not stop/over night in Kahului.  All cruise ships are respecting the disaster on Maui and not calling on the island.  

I have heard of some emergency executive orders...maybe one supercedes this sort of regulations. Of course not kicking out someone who has a legal right to be there.

[cr8tiv1]

Sharing hopeful news about the Lahaina Banyan Tree:

 

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/08/15/breaking-news/efforts-underway-to-revive-150-year-old-banyan-tree-in-lahaina/

 

“We’re not giving up hope,” said arborist Steve Nimz. “There’s no reason to give up yet.”

He inspected the tree over the weekend, and found no significant signs of singeing, charring or cracking on the main trunk or most of its aerial roots, with the exception of two. The tree has more than 40 aerial roots anchored in the soil.

After using a small pocket knife to cut through the thin bark layer into the tree’s cambium, he found there was still live tissue there, although very little sap oozed out when a lot should have for a healthy tree.

[dockman]

It is just horrible to watch all the local coverage.  Of course a few sleazebags have already appeared more interested in pointing fingers and filing lawsuits than taking care of the massive problems at hand like recovering and ID bodies most of all of which were burned to dust...the fire was so hot it melted metal and human bone fragments are about all that is left to be recovered...they now have 20 cadaver dogs flown in from mainland...they are taking dna samples from relatives to try and identify the dead. 

 

They had some problems with a few people ignoring signs and trapsing around and walking through the ash that may well have peoples remains.  There have also been some realtors who have apparently called some of the most vulnerable people trying to buy their lots as in additon to all the other problems apparently the entire area is full of toxic chemicals etc that is all going to have to be cleaned up taking a long long time and realtors hoping to encourage people to sell now

 

.  The governor today said that there are some unscrupulos people trying to scare people to sell but he has now got a bunch of local maui layers lined up to try and stop that garbage.  Listening to the police chief , mayor, fire chief, hawaiian electric, human society, fema the governor and more everyday certainly paints a different picture than a lot of the big mainland news outlets seem to want to push.  It was not a simple fire and a lot of very tough decisions had to be made very quickly and some maybe could have been better....but there will be time to sort that all out a bit later.  The governor says he has spoken with Biden several times and Biden does not want to come yet and distract resources etc as there is so much that is going on right now...so gov and Biden have ageed that it would be better for all concerned if he delays visit for a while rather than show up and complicate things further.  The Gov says the feds have made it clear that whatever Maui needs the feds will get to them.  There are already 450 fema people there not to mention lot of military resources helping...in additon lots of volunteers both local and out of state. 

 

Most all the tourists have now left at the request of Maui officials as they try and sort out moving displaced locals into hotels airbnb etc...if is not quite as simple as some would believe....there are many celebs who have homes on maui and several are there now...oprah is there and has been trying to help ...in the middle of it all apparently paris hilton and her husband decided to come on vacation and stay in wailea for fun...as you can imagine that has gotten a very negative reaction thus far and her PR people are trying to spin it all...my guess is paris will be writing a big check to donate to try and salvage a bit of her reputation...Bezos who has a home there has donated 100 million which is certainly nice (from his net worth of 161 BILLION)...the rock and a few other big name hawaii celebs are also donating etc..three will likely be many more celebs with maui ties who i fully expect will step and donate...willie nelson has had a home in upcountry maui for years and it would not at all surprise me to see old willie assemble and do some sort of big fundraiser concert with a lot of his musician friends (who can say no to willie) and they could likely raise a ton of $$

 

it is depressing as hell to watch all the local coverage but of course sitting at home on oahu and watching it on tv is certainly nothing like the people who are still living through it every minute ands for years to come...it is truly heartbreaking

 

anyway...count your lucky stars that u were not in lahaina one week ago right now...