Hawaii wildfires claim over 100 lives; temporary mortuaries set up

The death toll has now crossed 100 people after deadly wildfires raged through the town of Lahaina and officials Tuesday announced that a makeshift morgue was expanded to deal with the tragedy.

Governor Josh Green of Maui warns that the Lahaina wildfires, the worst US wildfire in over a century, could significantly increase the death toll, urging Hawaiians to prepare for a potential two or three-times higher number.

"101 lives have now been lost," he said, adding that over a quarter of the disaster zone has been searched by dogs trained to sniff for bodies, AFP reported.

The Maui Police Forensic Facility is using refrigerated containers as temporary mortuaries amid a massive number of fatalities on the rural island.

Locals fear wealthy developers may exploit people's desperation to buy up plots for luxury homes or short-term rentals, while Green warns against any land grab in the destroyed Lahaina remnants.

"Our goal is to have a local commitment — forever — to this community, as we rebuild," he said. "So we will be making sure that we do all that we can to prevent that land from falling into the hands of people from the outside."

'Unrecognisable' bodies

The difficult process of identifying the dead inched forwards Tuesday, with officials saying they had collected DNA samples from 41 people whose relatives were missing.

Only four of the dead have been identified so far, and officials from Maui County said they would only release their names once they were sure families had been informed.

The island's police chief has said that many of the bodies are so badly charred that they are unrecognisable, such was the ferocity of the blaze. Stories of horrifying escapes continued to emerge, as did more testimony about the lack of official warning of the fast-moving blaze.

Annelise Cochran said that she had been reassured when officials said a small blaze in the hills had been contained last Tuesday morning.

However, it had suddenly, and dramatically, flared.

"We saw smoke billowing and the blue sky had turned a dark shade of brown and the wind was whipping at 80-plus miles an hour. It was very, very fast; shocking to see," the 30-year-old said.

"We saw flames, and we realised it was coming right for us," she said, adding no evacuation order had been issued.

After trying to flee by car only to find her way blocked by vehicles abandoned by their terrified drivers, she decided the ocean offered her only escape.

"We fully submerged ourselves into the water to get our faces down as much as we could, so that we were breathing the air that was only on the surface of the water, because the air got very acrid and horrible to breathe," Cochran said.

It was hours before she was plucked from the water.

Furthermore, US President Joe Biden said that he will visit the fire-ravaged areas of Hawaii "as soon as he can" amid evident criticism of his response to the island's deadly wildfires.

Biden said he wanted to ensure that the people in the state had "everything they need" while speaking in Milwaukee city.

Residents of Hawaii have expressed dissatisfaction with the federal government's response time to the disaster.