Over 55 victims of Hawaii fires

It has gone to 55 deaths as a result of fires on Maui Island, in the state of Hawaii, while officials have warned that the number of victims is expected to increase.

At least a thousand people are still missing. The Hawaiian Consumer Protection Office has decided to freeze prices for all goods on this island.

The freezing of prices means that goods must be sold the same price that was sold before the emergency situation.

The move is expected to be in force at least by the end of the month, and includes products such as food, water, ice, gasoline, batteries, generators, construction materials and medical supplies.

Officials say it will take years and billions of dollars to restore Hawaii's island after the destruction of fires affecting the western side of the island. Maui's historic tourist city, Lahaina, has become mostly ash.

Governor Josh Green said, after looking closely at the situation, that Lahaina “has disappeared tragically”. He said that “when you see the total scale of destruction in Lahaina, you will be shocked. Looks like a bomb exploded. ”

Governor Green called on hotel owners and homeowners to house some of whose residents were burned with fire.

Emergency teams in Lahaina are continuing to find and identify people who died in flames, Mayor Maui, Richard Bissen, said on Thursday.

He begged residents who had no home damage from the fires to not return until the “s are the ones who lost their lives”.

Tiffany Kidder Winn, a business owner in Lahaina, told the Associated Press agency that Lahaina “looked like a war zone, just totally destroyed”.

The popular television personality Oprah Winfrey, resident of Maui Island, visited an evacuation centre on the northern side of the island on Thursday, where she distributed pillows, shampoos, diapers, and sheets.

She said she had been there before to ask the evacuees what they needed.

Officials say fires in Maui are expected to be Hawaii's deadliest natural disaster since a 1961 tsunami killed 61 people. / VOA