To let Maui heal and and care for those impacted by the fire, visitors are now asked to depart.
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121 thoughts on “Hawaii Asks All Visitors To Leave Maui (Updated)”
To let Maui heal and and care for those impacted by the fire, visitors are now asked to depart.
Will Maui be seeking cleanup/ or Volunteer help??
My husband and I enjoyed our time with you.
I am looking to possibly help if I can.
Thank you,
Julie
The fire in Lahaina was unlike any that Maui has experienced. It Is complete devastation.
The fires did not reach South Maui residential and resort areas.
My South Maui contacts, locals who live with their families and work there, do not wish to lose their livelihoods and ability to pay their bills and face the risk of become homeless.
They do not understand the HTA or the Lt. Governor’s publishing positions in the national media, about keeping all visitors out of Maui, for an unspecified period of time, Less than 24 hours after the catastrophe occurred in Lahaina. How does that happen?
The benefit to the island in preventing visitors from coming to Maui and staying in Unaffected areas (like South Maui) does not seem well thought out.
There is a system keeping people from entering West Maui.
The airlines are cooperating in getting people out and off the island.
This is not the first time for wildfires on the island. Drought conditions on the island for the recent years and the removal of the sugar cane fields have contributed to higher frequency. Fire departments were able to successfully defend the perimeter between the fires and the residential areas of South Maui.
It will likely take years for survivors and families impacted to recover. Removal of jobs and income from the islands’ economic ecosystem do not seem to support a path to recovery.
Let’s please show respect for both sides of the story here.
How do we help?
You are all in my prayers we donated to Catholic charities and I pray you all can stay strong in Jesus and each other for healing! God Bless you all
Horrible, so sorry for everyone!!!
So sorry to see this happening in Maui. I saw boats still in dock at Lahani, shocking that the harbormaster did not move these boats to open water. There are relatively few fire stations and it seems an impossible task to take on this fire but I haven’t seen any trucks on the news reports. I wonder what if any plans were in place in case of an event like this? Lahani has a lot of wood structures on the water, it’s a shame no one thought to have pumps and hoses available to spray down buildings with volunteers. Does anyone know if the old tree in town survived?
Kirk,
Tonight’s CBS news showed that the tree was damaged but not gone.
Incredibly sad and tragic. Despite lots of non Hawaiian (including a couple of my) negative posts in recent BoH articles about government and tourism board opinions/new rules about tourists and some negative local feeling about outsiders, nobody deserves this. Hopefully lots of fed money and resources, supplied by all of us stateside, flows to help anyone effected in Maui and shows our country’s support for the state as an integral part of the union given the horrible losses. Also unfortunately this will likely be compounded for years by loss of tourism income, even to those on the island who escaped direct effects of this disaster. We have loved visiting Maui once or twice/year for over 20 years and have always enjoyed our times ther and will try and help support locals through this awful occurence.
**maui our prayers are with u… ohana in oahu is ready to help where we can… god hear our prayers
We have a trip planned August 15th, working with United to try to switch to another island has proved difficult. We are wondering if there is any word on flying into Maui and taking a hopper flight to Oahu or Kauai. Is this being discouraged as well?
Hi J.
The airport may well be overwhelmed so it doesn’t seem appropriate to plan to fly via Maui. Yesterday there were very significant flight delays and cancellations into and out of Maui. Today too, United has already cancelled 10 Maui flights today. Suggest finding another plan or postponing.
Aloha.
Thank you so much! That’s what I figured, but wanted a second opinion to make the case to cancel and reschedule the trip to the family.
Appreciate your diligence in updating everyone!
Unfortunately, the fire storm that developed in Lahaina was similar to the events in Paradise, CA. High winds, dry land, and wood structures. Without the sugar cane and pineapple fields, no protection from the fires. Maui strong will rebuild Lahaina.
Please contribute to local charities on Maui!🙏🏻🌴🌺🙏🏻
Just spoke with our condo company in South Kihei and they say all is fine and that they are not authorizing any changes to our August 29th trip to Kihei. I told him how most of the media are reporting that we should stay away until all the assessments are done. He indicated none of that will impact our stay since our condo is down in South Kihei and that we will only be kept out of the Lahaina area. We are happy to move our vacation over to Kauai but can’t afford to just walk away from several thousands of dollars. We were there the week the island shut down for COVID. I know he is wrong. Guess we will see you soon.
Hi Gary.
While the fire was in Lahaina, there is one very limited infrastructure for the entire island. The advice from the state is as follows: “Visitors who are on non-essential travel are being asked to leave Maui, and non-essential travel to Maui is strongly discouraged at this time. In the days and weeks ahead, our collective resources and attention must be focused on the recovery of residents and communities that were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses.”
It will be helpful when the state can be more clear and directive and we suspect that will occur in reasonably short order. But the priority is managing the unprecedented crisis first.
Aloha.
Yes, I explained all that to the company representative. Seems they do not agree
Hi Gary.
Thanks. We’ll have many more updates about this fluid and complicated situation.
Aloha.
It’s really a shame that they don’t want to work with you. They’re obviously looking out for their best interests.
On the other hand, it would be wise for you to do the same. Reports are coming in if people being stranded at the airport and I’m sure there are other stresses and strain yet to be reported.
Of course, the final decision is yours, but I would not voluntarily put my family in a situation like that. At the very least it would be uncomfortable for sure. At most, you may be putting your family’s lives in danger.
That sounds extreme, but we have to look at what already happened. People literally had minutes to jump into the ocean to save their lives. And that was only if you were able-bodied.
They’re still getting these fires under control and who’s to say more won’t break out until in the near future?
I would keep my family away from that potential danger.
I would also go to my credit card company and immediately file a dispute. If this wasn’t an obvious case of reversing the charges, I don’t know what is.
Anywho, I hope everything works out and that you all remain safe. Aloha.
We were supposed to arrive the 28th, and just called our hotel and they will not let us cancel. We don’t feel right going to vacation when the people of Maui are in such pain and trying to rebuild. So disappointed in this hotel. I do not understand why they are not following the requests of the State. We don’t want to walk away from thousands of dollars either….
I pray for Maui. One of my most loved places.
Thank you for posting this message BOH editors, you keeps us all highly informed! I am currently in Kihei waiting to get on my upcoming flight home. Over 4k visitors and residents are being flown to Oahu where the convention center is serving as an evacuation site. Given the already strained resources on the islands and out of respect for the people of Hawaii, I’ve cancelled my trip to Oahu as well. I hope others make that choice. I am going to say this too – airlines need to drop fares so people can get off the island of Maui. The fares are insane and are quite the burden for residents and visitors trying to leave. For fire impact families they are covering some costs but not for all.
Hi Mary.
Thanks for your update from Kihei.
Aloha.
Heartbroken to witness this devastation. My prayers are with the victims and the brave first responders. Our family sent donations, but it feels like so little when people are hurting so much. Please continue to keep us informed if there is anything more that we here on the mainland can do. Mahalo, Rob and Jeff, as we know you are hurting too.
Hi Maria.
Thanks. It feels like we are all in the same boat, both in Hawaii and on the mainland. We are wanting to find the best ways in which to. There will be more updates on that coming.
Aloha.
Someone needs to tell condo owners to let people out of their leases. I have travel plans September 5. We are going to try to cancel. They don’t need tourists there right now, and I do not want to be there either.
Maybe the entry fees collected in Oahu could be sent to help Maui. After all, it’s only collected to manage tourism I read. It’s a terrible situation that no one should have to endure.
God bless all of Maui, it’s people, the beautiful land and historic and cultural buildings that have been destroyed by the horrible fires in Maui. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you! 🙁
Aloha family of Maui. Everyone is in our thoughts and prayers. Maui No Ka Oi
Much Love from the mainland family’s
Aloha
I am horribly saddened by this fire. Sending love to all affected.
Would it be helpful to ask visitors to leave clothing and such behind for those residents that lost everything?
Rather than clothing they are asking for cash donations. You can always donate clothing to Salvation Army, Goodwill or Boys & Girls Club. They are better equipped to handle clothing. Maui Food Bank is another good option and accept cash. mauifoodbank.org/contact/
Sitting on hwy 30 just past the Maui ocean center. There are sparks coming from under an insulator on a cross member. Please send help. We are waiting to go get our stuff from our condo in order to leave.
We lived on Maui for 7 years. Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends there and all pf Maui.