Biden to visit Hawaii as wildfire toll tops 100

KAHULUI, United States: President Joe Biden will head to fire-ravaged Hawaii next week to meet with survivors and first responders still hunting for victims, the White House said Wednesday, as the death toll from the devastating blazes surpassed 100.

The fire, which levelled the historic town of Lahaina on Maui, is the deadliest in the United States for more than a century, and state Governor Josh Green has repeatedly warned the death toll could yet grow significantly.

Maui County officials updated that toll to 106 on Tuesday, with Green saying earlier that just over a quarter of the disaster zone had been searched by dogs trained to sniff for bodies.

Refrigerated containers were being pressed into use as makeshift morgues at the Maui police department´s forensic facility, an AFP journalist observed, as the largely rural island struggled to cope with the sheer number of dead.

Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Monday will “meet with first responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials” on Maui, the White House said in a statement. The president then tweeted: “I remain committed to delivering everything the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this disaster.”

Biden had quickly declared a “major disaster” in Hawaii after last week´s inferno, allowing the deployment of emergency assistance from the federal government, and has talked several times with Green.

But he has been criticized by the Republican opposition for what they characterized as a timid response to the fires. Though he has addressed the disaster in speeches, he did not speak publicly when the death toll soared over the weekend.

The White House said Biden had been in close contact with leaders in the Pacific archipelago and federal emergency officials, who had advised that “search and recovery efforts are expected to be at a stage early next week to allow for a presidential visit.”