At least 99 people have died, making it the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in over a century.
Read more:Experts warn that extreme weather conditions and disasters like these wildfires will occur more frequently and with greater intensity due to climate change, though that is not the only contributing factor at hand. “When the air is hotter it can hold more water vapor, so that means you get more water evaporating from plants, and that dries them out,” says Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections. “But you can't blame it just on climate change, that's for sure.
“If you give a spark in those kinds of conditions, drought plus heat plus wind, it can lead to very rapid fire spread and very intense fires,” Masters says.Temperatures on the day of the fires were also up to 90°F, which dries out vegetation and makes it more fire prone, according to Masters. “I don't think we were ready for it,” Maximus Yarawamai, a 63-year-old gardener, tells TIME. Yarawamai, who traveled from his home on the Big Island to Lahaina to help the community in need, compares the damage he’s seen to what he imagines Pearl Harbor or the Twin Towers to have looked like after those catastrophes. “I think we never thought that this would happen in Hawaii. We've had fires but not this magnitude.
by the state of Hawaii rated wildfires as low and medium risk across the board for its effect on people, property, the environment, and emergency management program operations.found that the number of incidents caused by fires on the island has increased over the years. While there are annual fluctuations in the destruction caused by fires, Hawaii’s acre burnage before the Maui wildfires peaked at more than 50,000 acres in 2019 compared to slightly over 10,000 in 2007.
Danmark Seneste Nyt, Danmark Overskrifter
Similar News:Du kan også læse nyheder, der ligner denne, som vi har indsamlet fra andre nyhedskilder.
How 'miracle house' with red roof survived Maui wildfiresThe home remained unscathed while all the properties around it were incinerated.
Læs mere »
Why the Georgia Court Will Keep the Trump Case—and Why It Shouldn’tWhat happens in Fulton County has to stay in the Fulton County Courthouse
Læs mere »