Lahaina: US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui next week in the aftermath of the deadliest wildfires in the US in more than a century, the White House announced Wednesday.
The Bidens will meet Monday with survivors of the fires, as well as first responders and other government officials.
They will “see firsthand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday.
Biden and White House officials have signalled for days that a presidential visit was in the works as long as it would not disrupt search and recovery efforts.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green has informed the White House that Biden’s visit early next week should be fine.
Gov. Josh Green opened a main road so drivers can travel east to west on Maui during limited hours as of Wednesday.
“We will have, of course, our National Guard responsible on the side of the road so that no one goes into the impact zone,” where teams are still searching for fatalities following last week’s wildfires, Green said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“What I can tell you is people are holding up,” he said, adding, “We’re just grateful for everyone’s outpouring of support. And though the workload is extraordinary and our hearts are broken, we will get through it. We just are still kind of in the thick of doing recovery.”
Maui County released the names of two people killed in the wildfire that all but incinerated the historic town of Lahaina Tuesday evening, as the death toll rose to 106.
A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify remains, as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighbourhoods reduced to ash.
The US Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of coroners, pathologists and technicians along with exam tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for response.
“It’s going to be a very, very difficult mission,” Greene said. “And patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims.”
The county said in a statement Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79 were among the dead, the first people so named.
A further three victims have been identified, the county wrote, and their names will be released once the county has identified their next of kin.
The wildfires are the deadliest in the US in more than a century. Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes have become key evidence in the search for a cause.
AP