Washington, d. C. Im fredricka whitfield. We begin this morning with the apocalyptic destruction in hawaii, the deadliest National Disaster in state history. At least 80 people are dead. And thousands more displaced from the wildfires. And now, rescue crews are bringing in cadaver dogs to help search what is left of burned buildings. Devastation from the lahaina fire, costing an estimated 5. 5 billion am in mountainy county. One lawmaker tells cnn the statement unestimated the possibility of wildfires and failed to plan for emergency issues with the government alert center. The governor has looked at a comprehensive review of the states response all of this developing as we are seeing more videos of harrowing escapes. We got to walk somewhere. Over there. By the beach. [ bleep ]. No, no, no not like this. Not like this. No. [ bleep ]. Oh, my gosh. I mean that family did eventually make it to an evacuation shelter, after taking refuge on rocks, by the ocean. Lets go now to cnns mike val
credit there in hawaii. for this town of lahaina, so much loss to these wildfires, homes, businesses, but it is a place of so much historical significance. a place of burial for hawaiian kings, royalty, talk to me about the unimaginable devastation and the impact on the history there, and the stories of many generations. sure, you know, many have characterized lahaina in the coverage of the fires as a tourist mecca, or a tourist destination, and it is certainly attracting the interest and the love of many, many people, and as you said, there s a deep history, lahaina is a former capital of the hawaiian kingdom for about 50 years. the capital of maui s leaders
again, and unfortunately, under these circumstances. there s lots of frustration, a lot of that frustration is the difficulty in communication, and when you lose power, when you lose connectivity, cell phone connectivity, over such a large area, there s always going to be a thirst for information, and so it s really difficult to be patient in times like this, but lots of people are working really hard to help those in, gets out if they need to, and to make sure whatever area is opened up can be done safely. what have you heard specifically from people, friends, loved ones, colleagues, that are on maui, and what they ve been experiencing? you know, it s difficult to hear a lot of the on the ground
we have new video that came in from the national guard, and you can see dozens and dozens of troops, going through the wreckage of what is left, and we have noticed in some of the flames that troops have started to spray paint xs on what is left of, you know, concrete, wooden structures, to mark that the interiors of buildings have been searched. but you know, fredricka, as we started the broadcast a couple of minutes ago, you noticed the latest figures that we have from the pacific disaster center and from fema, the first real projected total of what it could cost to rebuild lahaina, and the surrounding areas, 5.5billion dollars, 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed. 4,500 people is the potential number of citizens here across maui who will need to be sheltered. i would say, you know, it is certainly fair to characterize the mood here, as one of extreme
for long before that. the former, the royal compound, surrounded by wetlands, home to some of the very powerful spirits of maui, and it s important to recall all of that, and it is also important to keep first and foremost in mind what the families of the area are going through. because it is really in the families and in the hearts of the residents of those places that those kinds of stories, those kinds of histories live, and so our hearts, our prayers, all of our thoughts are with those families who have lost loved ones, who have lost their homes, who have lost businesses, livelihoods, lifestyles, it is just devastating.