it was panic, people were crying on the side of the road begging, there was a man i will never forget he just laid in the road and pleaded to jesus that we were going to be safe. much of the fire is now contained u.s. president joe biden has greenlit a disaster declaration that will free of federal aid for hawaii. veronica miracle reports from maui. is anybody still out here? it is time to go. chaos and panic as the relentless wildfires continue to ravage the paradise island of maui, leaving loss and destruction in its wake. oh my god. some residents escaping by boat, watching the flames engulf their town as they sailed away. historically lahaina essentially gone as the fire torched hundreds of houses,
areas turn to ash. power and cell service are still out in western maui, and the main tourist district of lahaina which is making it difficult to determine how many people are still missing. the white government up 1700 buildings there were destroyed, the wildfires not the second deadliest in the u.s. in the past century, the governor says the fire is likely the largest natural disaster in hawaiian history. one resident describes the terrifying moments of her escape. here she is. when the pump trees that are 40 feet up in the air, the fire hit it and the heat hit us, it was maybe 50 to 100 yards away, we said we have to go. we ran out in panic mode and we said let s stay together but there was no time to wait for anybody, i jumped in my truck and the smoke, it was four or 5:00 in the afternoon, it was pitch black the smoke was so thick and black.
the one road into lahaina remains closed, people can leave, but they cannot go back in. and others have been waiting on the side of the road, hoping that the moment that this road opens up they can go see their homes and community. but the governor of hawaii saying earlier today that he estimates about 80% of lahaina has been decimated. there is a glimmer of good news, that fire that decimated lahaina, it is now 80% contained. firefighters have been able to make progress despite these conditions. veronica miracle, cnn, maui, hawaii. attorneys for donald trump in the special counsel will be in court in washington in the coming hours. u.s. district judge tonya will hold a hearing on how to handle evidence in the election subversion case, she expects to weigh in on what trump can say in public, especially in the wake of his inflammatory media posts. it comes as the justice department is proposing an aggressive timeline for the
judge in the d.c. district court, she will be talking to the lawyers about how evidence should be handled in this case. there have been disputes over that. how much donald trump will be able to share, publicly, as he learns information that the justice department gathered and handed over to him. his team can prepare for trial. she will be determining that, and she also may be responding to some of the things both trump s lawyers and the justice department has said in court filings so far as far as his social media posts. he has been aggressive on social media, talking about mike pence, talking about the judge, talking about the prosecutors. so a lot to watch for exactly how the judge responds, and what the tone will be in this very first hearing before the federal judge who will oversee the trial of donald trump related to the 2020 election. kayla pullen s, cnn, washington. the iowa state fair open on thursday, it was the place to be for many republican candidates still scrambling to
aircraft assets closer to the front line, which makes them vulnerable to russian fire. so it is swings and rounds at the moment. so i can t see everything being broken unless there is some dramatic development. of course the window of opportunity is always closing because the rains will come, and that means that off road maneuver is curtailed absolutely. yeah the window closing as well because we have seen less popular support for, you know, giving money to the war in ukraine here in the u.s. as well. so that adds another level of urgency as well. we will have to leave it there, stewart crawford, really appreciate your insights. thank you so much. my pleasure, thank you so much. still ahead here on cnn newsroom, the u.s. strikes a deal with iran. a group of americans released from one of the country s most notorious prisons. we will look at what iran is getting an exchange. stay with us.