Maui restaurant owner says there is “nothing left” of the once bustling town of Lahaina
From CNN’s Matt Meyer
The owner of a popular restaurant in the town of Lahaina, an economic and tourism hub on Maui, told CNN that some of her business’ employees are sleeping in their cars with family as they search for shelter, while others remain unaccounted for.
The restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise, was destroyed by the wildfires raging on the island, along with the majority of town.
Owner Laren Gartner is watching the destruction and trying to coordinate with employees from her location in California, though she hopes to travel to the island as soon as she can safely do so, she said on CNN News Central Thursday.
Between the restaurant and a brewery, which was also destroyed, Gartner’s businesses employ 80 to 120 people. She is still trying to coordinate with many of them.
“There is no cell phone (service), there’s no electricity, there’s no devices to be used anywhere. We don’t know where our employees are,” Gartner told CNN.
“We have some people sleeping in their cars on the side of the highway with their families, their animals — and we haven’t been able to find them,” she added.
Gartner said she has begun to see images of the town’s destruction for the first time.
“Lahaina looks like a bomb went off. There is nothing left. The entire village has been turned into rubble,” she told CNN.
The restaurant owner says she isn’t sure whether her team will be able to rebuild the businesses. Her top priority right now, she said, was confirming the well-being of her employees.
“We’re going to need help from America,” Gartner said, mentioning that fundraising efforts for the business’ employees were underway.11:13 a.m. ET, August 10, 2023
More than 50 people who fled flames by running into ocean were rescued by Coast Guard
From CNN’s Aditi Sangal
The US Coast Guard said it rescued 17 survivors and assisted in recovering 40 others off the shore of Lahaina as wildfires have spread in Maui since Tuesday.
“On Tuesday night, as the Lahaina brush fire really rapidly spread west and engulfed the downtown Lahaina area, the Coast Guard began receiving reports of people who had to flee the flames and the smoke all the way down to shore line and ultimately into the water off of Lahaina,” according to Capt. Aja Kirksey, commander of the Honolulu sector of the US Coast Guard.
“Initial reports of people in the water were around a hundred,” she told CNN.
CNN on Wednesday reported that the wildfires had spurred some people to jump into the ocean to escape the danger.
The 17 people rescued by the guard were taken to Coast Guard Station Maui, while the 40 others were taken to a nearby location for further evacuation, Kirksey said.
Hazardous conditions also posed major challenges for what Kirksey called the “mass rescue operation.”
Helicopters were “unable to make water approaches due to the extremely low visibility that they were encountering,” Kirksey said, adding that boats were able to get to uninjured survivors.
The Coast Guard also received “some support from several Good Samaritans in that area,” she said.
The search-and-rescue response remains the top priority for the Coast Guard, Kirksey said, noting that while there have been no additional reports, she has instructed her teams to operate as though there are still potential survivors in need of assistance or victims that need to be recovered
