Residents struggle with haunting memories of the firestorm that claimed their town
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - With the Lahaina Bypass reopened, hundreds of West Maui residents have been returning to their homes. Many have found properties burned to the ground.
Their neighborhoods are unrecognizable, filled with ash and a strong odor.
In the Kilauea Mauka neighborhood, everything is burned.
Helen Ka’ai, 62, struggled on Wednesday to make the trek to her home. Parts of the road were blocked by barricade, forcing the journey by foot. “It’s hard. It’s hard to take in, seeing all this devastation,” she said. “We grew up here. This is home to a lot of us.”
She says she couldn’t look at her community until Wednesday, more than a week after the firestorm.
Sitaleki Ika also walks to his home.
For him, each way takes half an hour. It’s an emotional journey home.
“Make me cry. Make me cry. Over 20 years, I stay here in my house,” Ika said.
Lahaina resident Kekoa Lansford, meanwhile, struggles with what he saw in the Lahaina firestorm.
That night, he at least four truckloads of people out of the inferno.
“I seen a woman and she was pretty burnt up. Not to the point that she would die but pretty bad. And I gave her a ride. Something told me turn around and go back and get another one,” he said.
He says one detail stuck with him: Everybody lost their slippers.
“I’ll tell you that and the ground was super hot. It was hot for my feet,” he said.
There’s an eerie emptiness of a once thriving town. The stench of blowing ash, chemicals and rotting garbage can be overpowering, but these families are determined to keep coming back.
“There hope,” said Ka’ai. “Lahaina will get back and it will be stronger.”
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