Acting Hawaii Gov. Sylvia Luke has declared a state of emergency as wildfires in Maui and counties across the state force rescues and evacuations, burn businesses and homes and continue to spread due to hurricane-force winds.
A satellite view of Hurricane Dora moving across the Pacific south of Hawaii.
The Hawaii National Guard has been activated to help in areas where buildings and hundreds of acres have burned, roads and schools have closed and people have been forced to evacuate, the emergency proclamation said.
At least a dozen people have been rescued and, in the town of Lahaina in Maui, authorities said people were jumping into harbor waters to escape an "apocalyptic scene" as wind blew thick, black smoke toward the water, CBS reported.
Maui firefighters are battling the blaze in West Maui, a popular tourist destination, and in a more mountainous region inland, according to the Associated Press, but they’re blocked by downed trees and power lines on roads and helicopters were grounded Tuesday due to the high winds, which have been brought by Hurricane Dora off the far south of the islands.
The Honolulu National Weather Service said winds reached above 60 mph in some areas.
12,400. That's how many people in West Maui—about half of the population—were without power Tuesday, according to Hawaiian Electric.
"This is going to be devastating for Maui", a local business owner told CBS News.
Hurricane Dora, a Category 4, formed far off of Mexico's western Pacific coast last week and has brought sustained winds as high as 130 mph. The hurricane is still several hundred miles off the south coast of the islands and is expected to move north, but not until it is far west of Hawaii. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in May predicted a near- or above-normal central Pacific hurricane season this year, with 4 to 7 tropical cyclones expected. The central Pacific hurricane runs from June 1 through the end of November. So far, Dora and Hurricane Calvin, which brought flooding and some wind damage to Hawaii’s Big Island last month, have been the most impactful this season.
Hawaii’s weather woes come amid a month of extreme conditions. A fire in California’s New York Mountain Range brought "fire whirls"—spinning columns filled with smoke and flame—to the region earlier this month and extreme weather in Antarctica has made ice loss and ocean heat waves “virtually certain” in the region, scientists say. The Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday confirmed July was the hottest month ever on record. The global average temperature of 17.22°C (62.99°F) was 0.33°C warmer than July 2019, the previous warmest month, and 0.72°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for July. The global mean temperature so far for 2023 is the third highest on record.
Fire on Hawaii's Maui island forces people to jump into water to flee flames (CBS News)
Hurricane Season May Take A Turn For The Worse Despite Slow Start, Meteorologists Warn (Forbes)