At least 36 people have been killed in “apocalyptic” wildfires which ripped through the resort city of Lahaina on Hawaii’s Maui island, officials said on Thursday.
Thousands were forced to flee the flames and smoke, some running into the ocean and being rescued by the US Coast Guard.
Some neighbourhoods of Lahaina were burnt to the ground.
“We just had the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. It’s like an apocalypse,” said Mason Jarvi, who escaped from the city.
Aerial video showed pillars of smoke rising from block after block of Lahaina, the largest tourist destination on Maui and home to many large hotels.
“It’s like an area was bombed. It’s like a war zone,” said helicopter pilot Richard Olsten.
With firefighters battling three major blazes, western Maui was closed to all but emergency workers and evacuees.
Former US president Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, tweeted: “It’s tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawai’i — a place that’s so special to so many of us.
“Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down.”
The fires, which started Tuesday night, also scorched parts of the Big Island of Hawaii. The state said thousands of acres burned.
At least 4,000 tourists were trying to leave western Maui, said Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation. At least 16 roads were closed but
Maui airport was operating fully and airlines were dropping fares and offering waivers to get people off the island.
The situation in Hawaii mirrored scenes of devastation elsewhere in southern Europe this summer, as wildfires caused by record-setting heat forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
United Nations’ chief climate change scientist Professor Jim Skea told The Standard this week that world leaders should act as “ringmasters and ringmistresses” to step up action to protect the planet against global warming.
Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and ferocity of extreme weather events.
Dustin Johnson, from San Diego, was in West Maui’s Lahaina working for a charter boat company that takes tourists on two-hour tours from the harbour.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, he said: “I was the last one off the dock when the firestorm came through the banyan trees and took everything with it.
“And I just ran out and helped everyone I could along the way."
Business owner Alan Dickar told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser he wasn’t sure what remained of his Vintage European Posters gallery on the now-decimated Front Street in Lahaina, which is on the island.
Mr Dickar followed county orders and evacuated with his two cats before flames engulfed the main strip of shops and restaurants.
“I don’t know what’s left," he added.
