Maui Lahaina Wild Fire

Aloha.

My name is Melanie and I currently live in Maui Hawaii.

Lahaina town was the capital to the royal Hawaiian Kingdom. It was also the heart of the west side of Maui. We suffered hurricane winds over the day on Tuesday which resulted in over 60 power lines being knocked down on the west side of Maui.

Within minutes the entire city was engulfed in flames. Winds up to 80mph fueled the fast moving fire into areas where people had no time to react.

There is absolutely nothing left of the whole city.

The harbor, schools, homes to local families, churches and historical landmarks have all been turned to ash.

Families are stuck with out cell services or electricity and are unable to get out of the west side for numerous reasons.

Some are out of gas and have no way of traveling. Some are trapped with no cars and no way to reach out for help or to loved ones.

We have lists of missing people and photos being passed around looking for children, parents, family and pets. Our shelters are flooding in with busses of people throughout the evening on Wednesday 8/9 and most are needing medical attention. Our hospital is not equipped to assist in the amount of burn victims and most are being flown out.

Currently as of Thursday morning, 7am, there are still 3 active fires on the island. They are reporting no current change in containment of the fires which means they continue to move inwards and up the mountains creating more damage, more loss and possibly more need to evacuate.

We need your help!

Any donations will be directly allocated to families at the shelters to by blanket, cots, diapers, tampons, toiletries and gas. We have people making the trips to the backside of the islands in an attempt to find people pulled over on the side of roads and beaches to assist in offering gas and water.

There are reports that the hotels that are in safe areas are running out of food and water.

There is no running water in the hotels (reported from locals who escaped last night) and the water is dirty. Anything will help.

Please pray for rain. And Mahalo