This past week has been difficult for my Lahaina Town community, ‘ohana, and dear friends. I am so grateful that my daughter Brie miraculously escaped with her inhalers and Epipen. No time for anything else. Her harrowing tale of navigating streets with downed power lines and trees, cars jammed together bumper to bumper, and low visibility due to thick black smoke and exploding gas stations gives me nightmares. We flew Brie and our grandson Keoni to be with us. They arrived last night. My daughter has been afraid to go to sleep. She worries about reliving the terror in her dreams and is scared it will happen again, and she won’t know. You see, she was asleep at the start of last Tuesday’s fire. She thinks that inhaling the smoke affected her. How many others died from smoke inhalation? Thank God someone called to check on her. She was groggy and slow to react until her friend told her to look out her window. I am proud of Brie for keeping a level head and even rescuing and warning others on her way out of Lahaina Town. She even stopped at Waiola, our church, to pray quickly and assess the wind direction and roads. It was Hawaii’s second oldest Christian church and the most senior on Maui. At this time, I don’t know if the Royal Tomb where several Queens, the last King of Kauai, and Princesses, Chiefs, and Chiefesses survived. I am pretty sure that Brie is the last person to pray there. ***The above photo shows Waiola’s Keopuolani Hall burning mere minutes after Brie fled the area.
Brie’s story of survival is a blessing for our ‘ohana. The vast number of missing is sickening. They have confirmed 106 dead, but at this writing, they have only searched 30% of our little town. There will be more. People were trying to flee in cars, and many jumped out of their vehicles and ran for the ocean. Many didn’t make it out of the cars. Too many who jumped into the sea perished as the winds whipped the ocean, which, of course, wasn’t calm. What about older people living alone or in the Hale Mahaolu Eono? If young people died fleeing the fire, the elderly didn’t have much chance.
Our hanai (adopted) daughter Danyelle and all but one of our tenants miraculously made it out too. Jean is still missing. We may never know what happened to Jean if they don’t find her soon. She is one of 1,200 on the dreaded missing list. Her daughter continues to pray for a miracle. Two thousand two hundred structures burned, and 86% were residential. Our island’s housing shortage for locals was already a serious issue. Now it is unfathomable. My heart hurts, but my mind spins when I try to process what will become of the displaced whose jobs were vanquished by the fire and who cannot live in their cars, the parks, and others’ backyards forever. The situation and temporary solutions are not sustainable. I am encouraging Brie and Danyelle to move to another island until West Maui is rebuilt and safe.
Several grief clients have asked for my counsel, but I cannot. I am grieving, too, and it is still so raw I cannot take on more sadness now. Angry too. Don’t get me started on slimy insurance companies, land vultures, MAGA politicians who’ve used our tragedy to attack the President, and now a crop of crazies who have no connection to Maui spewing ridiculous conspiracy crap. Then, there are the looky-loos – ghouls who want to see the devastation of Front Street before the authorities can finish their search for the dead. They violated the order to stay away from certain areas and pitched a whiny fit when told to stay away. To you who were stuck not being able to see your homes because the cops were told no more cars could come in…it was due to these guys. But, there are countless stories of aloha. Most of the community takes care of each other. I am proud of Jen, Rita, State Rep. Elle Cochran, and many others who immediately started coordinating relief efforts even though their homes were destroyed too.
Please pray for Mauians and those who loved our charming historic sacred gem of a beach town. We will rise again, but the historic sites and buildings are gone and cannot be replaced. At least the Banyan Tree looks like it survived. It is the second largest in the world and a symbol of the strength of Lahaina’s spirit.
If you want to help, please donate to the Maui Food Bank, the Maui Humane Society, or someone you know who has Venmo or a GoFundMe. My daughter Ke’ili created one for Brie and the boys, and we are grateful for the much-needed funds so they can buy necessary replacement items, find a new home and start healing from this traumatic experience. Mahalo Mahalo Mahalo! (BTW, this was not a plug for Brie’s GoFundMe, as there are thousands more who need help too.)
If you plan to visit Maui, please wait until it is safe and ready to welcome you. PS I just heard there are two more hurricanes potentially hitting Maui. God help us!
Mahalo ke Akua,
Shirley
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