AFP President Biden visited Maui this week
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 08:27
The Hawaii City Council of Maui is suing Hawaii Electric for the wildfires that started there this month. The company would have failed to remove the power from the cables when very strong winds were expected there, while nature was bone dry.
Testimonies and video footage show that cables broke off due to the strong wind and that the sparks that came off set the area on fire. At least 115 people have died and about a thousand people are still missing. Much of the inhabited area has been completely destroyed.
According to the municipality, the disaster could have been prevented if the company had carried out proper maintenance and kept the shrubs and grasses under the electricity poles short. The company knew that the poles would blow over in strong winds and that the vegetation below would catch fire, according to the municipality. “It also knew that such a fire would spread extremely quickly.”
Hurricane Dora
The fires started on August 8. That day, Hurricane Dora passed 500 miles south of Hawaii. The strong winds that accompanied it blew over at least thirty power poles on the western part of the island of Maui.
Hawaii Electric says it is “deeply disappointed” that the municipality is going to court, while the investigation has not yet been completed.
Two days after the fires started, the historic city of Lahaina was almost completely gone:
Evacuees about deadly fire on Maui: ‘There is nothing left, only smoke’
2023-08-25 06:27:50
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