Nearly two weeks after deadly wildfires rapidly swept through the island of Maui and destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii officials announced Monday that some 850 people are still missing.
With 85% of the disaster area searched, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen reported on social media that at least 114 people died in the disaster. He added that 27 victims have been identified as of Sunday and 11 of the victims' families were notified.
The number of those unaccounted for came from data compiled by the FBI and the Maui Police Department, according to Bissen. Authorities had asked people to provide DNA samples and lists of their loved ones' names to help with identification. The FBI and Maui County Coroner are also working together to identify all the recovered remains.
"This is a thorough and time-consuming process," Bissen said while also noting that there was "positive news" in the number.
At the start of the search for victims, Bissen said the missing persons list had over 2,000 names. Since then, over 1,285 individuals have been found safe.
But the recovery process will take time, according to Bissen, as the number of identified will rise with the number of missing decreasing. He urged family members to contact authorities and provide a DNA sample if they had any unaccounted relatives as a result of the fire.
"We are both saddened and relieved about these numbers," Bissen said. ".Our lives have changed forever and things will not be the same. What will be the same is the way we care for each other as we grieve and go through this together."
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About 13,000 people lived in Lahaina while thousands more were visiting or living in short-term rentals before the fires. Experts had previously estimated that more than 1,000 people were missing or unaccounted for.
In the aftermath of the disaster, authorities said they were expecting the death toll to rise as search and rescue teams sifted through the charred rubble. Remains had been found in structures and vehicles that were set ablaze and melted by the inferno.
About 2,700 structures were destroyed in the fires on Aug. 8 and 86% of those were residential, according to preliminary figures. Authorities said the areas had to be carefully examined for safety and search operations.
Major disasters, such as the Maui wildfires, can overwhelm local officials with the high number of deaths as authorities work to identify and notify families of recovered remains. Maui County typically works with about 1,400 death cases a year, according to state records.
But search teams remain respectful and committed to the methodical process of recovering people's loved ones.
“It may take a while because going through debris takes time and fire does highly modify structures,” Christopher Schmidt, director of the Bioarchaeology Lab at the University of Indianapolis, previously told USA TODAY. “Everyone’s doing the very best they can. No one’s going to rush through this.”
The number of missing after natural disasters is often at high numbers and are often not reflective of the final death toll. For instance, media reports suggested as many as 10,000 people were missing after Category 5 Hurricane Ian struck Florida and the Caribbean in September 2022. But the actual death toll ended up at 161.
In most cases of disasters in the United States, the death toll is far below the number of missing persons. Dozens and hundreds of people will often be found alive — or the missing may come forward after seeing their name on a missing list.
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The Maui wildfires are now considered the nation's deadliest wildfires in modern history. As authorities identify the 114 confirmed fatalities and contact immediate family members, Maui County officials have begun to release the names of the first victims.
Here are the names of some of the lives lost:
Contributing: Trevor Hughes, Elizabeth Weise, and Michael James, USA TODAY
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