With Maui's wildfires largely contained, island residents are starting to comprehend the economic and housing challenges that lie ahead.
In the aftermath of the fires, Leonard Nakoa of Lahaina has been stuck in Honolulu, where he’d been visiting his brother, and hoped to return this weekend until the wildfires threw everything into question.
“Some of the boats are so big they can’t come to shore,” he said. “So I’ve got jet skis and small boats going in and out of the bay to pick stuff up and bring it in. Then I’ve got three distribution centers where they can go drop off supplies.” Now, much of what was left of that heritage has turned to ash. Gone, too, is his daughter’s home although she and her family are all accounted for, he said, now sheltered at his countryside home at Lahaina’s outskirts.Lahaina is unique even on Maui, with nearly a third of its population foreign-born, compared to just 18% for the island as a whole.
Before, he said, you could drive from one end of the town and sense the difference, with stretches of dry, brown land peppered with the homes of Lahaina’s waiters, bellhops, cooks and housekeepers giving way to lush, green, tourist-populated areas flourishing under sprinklers and fountains. Now, much of it has turned to ash.
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