More than five months after the deadly fires in Lahaina, Maui, thousands remain in temporary housing. The once beautiful and historic community remains a heap of ashes.
The Biden administration has billions of American taxpayer dollars for Ukraine and the jihad-loving Gazans, but many Maui residents still have almost nothing. Videos and images of a wall papered in children’s art, with the blackened and charred remains of a part of Lahaina, have circulated on social media. It’s difficult to find good information on the situation, partly because most of the media lost all interest in Lahaina months ago and partly because it seems government and mainstream media are quite untrustworthy on the topic.
Lahaina - 5 months later.
— Anita Miller (@FoxNewsMom) January 19, 2024
Nightmare. https://t.co/UwfPt0V84z
Not long after the disaster occurred, climate experts argued that Democrat government climate ideology had created a situation ripe for disaster, unnecessarily and dangerously making Lahaina a sitting duck for catastrophic fire. The foolish decision-making of officials blinded by climate alarmism could have been responsible for the devastation. There were also examples of stupidity, like a state official who didn’t release water when he should have once the fire started. Now it seems local and federal government isn’t feeling a sense of urgency in helping residents who lost everything to rebuild.
Even government-funded NPR admitted at the end of December that Lahaina is still suffering, with tourism to Maui down and many still without a settled home. Bill Dorman said on NPR that “nearly 6,300 Maui residents who lost their homes are still in temporary housing. For most folks, that means hotel rooms right now. And as local hotels have opened to more tourism, a lot of those fire survivors have been moved around. Courtney Lazo's one of them. Her family's been in Lahaina for five generations.”
Lazo sadly asked, “Can we unpack our containers or garbage bag of belongings? How do you start to heal and start to rebuild your life and create some sense of new normal if you can't even unpack?” Dorman then claimed that Democrat Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is being helpful because he’s pressuring renters, but that appeared to be the only alleged “help” NPR could cite from local government. And the Biden administration appears to have forgotten about Lahaina long ago. Even the Maui County Council chairwoman admitted recovery work was “painstakingly slow.”
Not only that, 500 children had not returned to school since the fire as of October, and it is unclear if there’s an update since. Were they displaced? Dead? I have not yet found an updated number. Some residents argued early on that the authorities were hiding just how many people were killed in the fires, and with thousands in temporary housing it was likely many children didn’t have homes near their old schools anymore. But it is a stark reminder of just how many innocent lives were ruined, who knows how permanently, by the fires, which would not have to been as catastrophic as they were had government not made stupid climate alarmist decisions.
The question is whether any of those residents who lost old family homes and belongings and even family members will ever return. There were rumors from the start that the fire could be a windfall for the rich looking to buy up Maui land that the poorer residents had not wanted to sell. Residents reported soon after the fire in August 2023 that land investors and developers were already calling with offers. Even USA Today admitted at the time that residents were fearful of being bought out and priced out of highly valuable property where their homes once stood.
Those who pledged aid haven’t necessarily followed through, either. The New York Post noted Jan. 19, “[Amazon’s] Jeff Bezos made a splashy, $100 million pledge to help rebuild Maui after it was devastated by wildfires in August — but local officials and nonprofits alike are reportedly puzzled about where the funds may have gone.” In fact, Bezos’s spokesperson admitted only about $15.5 million of the pledge had been dispensed so far. Bloomberg said Bezos has a history of promising largesse with the details of distribution being quite vague.
Lahaina is still suffering as government officials bewail anti-Semitic terrorists in Gaza. Why is Maui being forgotten?
