US: Hawaii Wildfires Death Toll Rises to 99, Expected to Double

By Staff, Agencies

The death toll in Hawaii’s devastating wildfires rose to 99 on Monday and this figure is expected to double over the next 10 days, according to the state’s governor.

The island of Maui was hit by what has already been named the deadliest US wildfire in a century last Wednesday. Governor Josh Green said more fatalities are certain, as emergency responders with cadaver dogs work their way through hundreds of homes and burned-out vehicles.

“There are 99 fatalities that are confirmed,” he told reporters.

Only a quarter of the ruins of the devastated coastal town of Lahaina have been searched for victims so far. Speaking to CNN earlier, Green warned that “over the course of the next 10 days, this number could double."

Lahaina was almost totally destroyed by the fast-moving blaze last week, with survivors saying there had been no warnings. The intensity of the fire and scale of the destruction have made identification of human remains difficult, with some corpses disintegrating as they are uncovered by searchers.

Jeremy Greenberg, a Federal Emergency Management Agency director, said search conditions were “extraordinarily difficult to work through.” Around 1,300 people remain unaccounted for, although delays restoring cell phone communications have made it difficult for residents who fled to reconnect.