Canadian evacuees tell of chaos in Maui ‘war zone’
Maui have told of harrowing scenes during their escape from the fire-devastated Hawaiian island.Among the evacuees was British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Matthew Taylor, who drove through the ruined town of Lahaina on Thursday and said it resembled a “war zone.”Taylor, who arrived in Vancouver Friday morning on an Air Canada ferry flight, said buildings on both sides of the highway out of Lahaina had been “razed to the ground.”“Driving through Lahaina was absolutely shocking. It was really, really sad,” Taylor said.Officials in Hawaii say at least 67 people died this week after wildfires erupted on Maui in the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.Gov.
Josh Green has warned that the death toll will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue.Taylor had travelled to Maui with his family for a vacation on Monday night, staying north of Lahaina. They arrived to perilous scenes even before the fire, with high winds bringing down power lines and falling branches striking their car on a drive to pick up groceries.“There were shingles coming off the roofs.
It was scary. There were branches hitting our car and a long line of cars not barely moving,” Taylor said.It was the high winds that whipped up the wildfire and drove it over Lahaina, Hawaii officials say.Taylor said power and cellular communication went down where they were staying on Wednesday.
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