LAHAINA, Hawaii – Amateur photographer Kevin Foley could only watch from a distance as he documented the surrounding chaos in his Hawaiian town.
“I lost everything,” he said. “I want the world to know just how bad it got here.”
The Lahaina resident captured video showing the crackling fire raging throughout the night Tuesday as it engulfed homes and vehicles.
“Pray for Maui because Lahaina is still burning 30 hours after the initial blaze,” he posted on Instagram as the island suffered extensive damage from wind-driven wildfires.
CATASTROPHIC HAWAII FIRES KILL AT LEAST 55 AS SEARCH, RESCUE EFFORTS CONTINUE FOR MISSING
Wind gusts of up to 85 mph grounded firefighting aircraft and aided in decimating some communities on Maui since Tuesday – none yet fully contained. It’s still unknown how the fires started.
HAWAII’S FIRES RANK AMONGST DEADLIEST WILDFIRES IN RECENT US HISTORY
The fires destroyed buildings and killed at least 55 people as of Friday morning. Governor Josh Green said the town saw the destruction of “probably well over 1,000 buildings,” and hundreds of families were displaced.
“What we saw today was likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” Green said. “It’s going to take a great deal of time to recover from this.”