Originally published at: Hawaii's historic town of Lahaina in Maui devastated by wildfire (video) | Boing Boing
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heart breaking.
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It really is.
They’ve also been dealing with drought situations that affect the leeward side the most for quite a while, too.
People always have a vision of the islands being all tropical rainforest, but that’s not the case.
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Very sad. Mostly for the locals who lost their homes and businesses, obviously, but visitors to Maui lost something too. It was such a charming little town, and when I visited Maui years back that was one of the only places I saw on the island that felt “real” to me, and I enjoyed the tiny, rundown little hotel that I stayed in. The giant resorts are a poor substitute for that kind of place.
I wonder if the gigantic Banyan tree survived? It was planted on front street in 1873 and was the size of an entire city block.
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Maui here, probably even worse than is being reported. They are still trying to rescue people out of the ocean who had to flee to the waters to avoid the blaze on the westside.
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What does leeward mean?
Opposite of windward
ETA:
Windward - the side that faces the prevailing wind. Usually wetter.
Leeward - the side that faces away from the prevailing wind. Usually drier because of rain shadow effect.
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Right, and for those not in the know, most mountainous islands are much wetter on the windward side than on the leeward side. Basically the moisture gets squeezed out of the atmosphere like a sponge when it runs into the mountains, and the other side doesn’t see the same rainfall.
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Banyan tree is gone.
Guess i had some bad info, had heard it was a pile of ash, but technically still standing, whether or not it can recover from its injurys is another story
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Others have answered, but just so you have a visual as it pertains to the Hawaiian islands -
Yep, not even close. We go to Kauai regularly but we stay on the south side. One of the wettest places on earth is on this island.
It can rain every single day in Hanalei the time we’re there, but down in Poipu, it might sprinkle a bit.
Though it will rain more at night at times. And as you move west from there, it just gets dryer. Though there is a lot of irrigated agriculture including several thousand acres of coffee.
Out by the missile range, it hardly rains at all.
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I live in Kihei which is technically both a desert and a wetlands. Island ecosystems are definitely interesting. Over development, climate change and poor land management are all coming to head.
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You’re right about that.
I have a special connection to the islands because my mom was born there, her mom was born there and my grandparents met and were married there. Well before it became a state.
I have no idea how many times I’ve visited.
I’d be interested in your perspective (which I guess depends on how long you’ve lived there) on how things have changed for both the good and the bad.
One thing that I have noticed is there seems to be more of a drive to do what’s possible to be more sustainable through agriculture and be more about locally sourced. Which I realize can be buzz word phrases, but good can come from it.
30 years ago, there were no restaurants serving food (other than fish) raised on the islands.
Farmers markets full of stuff to sell to the locals weren’t even close to a thing like it is now.
Even in the 15 years that my wife and I have been regularly going to Kauai, we’ve seen huge changes there.
I know this is way off topic, but since it holds a special place in my heart, I stay in touch with what’s happening there.
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I moved here 10 years ago for a job. Never actually been to Maui but had visited Oahu and Kauai. Was more interested in finding a job in the bay area but Maui seemed affordable comparatively. I moved my father in with me about 5 years ago. When I moved here you could get a studio for under a grand if you knew the right people. Now 2-3 thousand for a studio or single bedroom is not unheard of. I found a house to buy with in a year b/c I could tell where rents were going my coworkers advised against it saying they expected the real estate bubble to pop. The house 's value in 9 years is between 2-3 times what I paid.
When I moved here I didn’t understand how your average person could afford to live. So many of the jobs are service industry. It really feels like there’s 3 or 4 or more different communities all sharing the same physical space but disjoint in so many ways. On my street there’s a house full of squatters and drug addicts until it was recently bought out of foreclosure still full of garbage and broken down cars. A brand new house with a 500 sq foot cottage in front right across the street where the cottage is being rented for 3 grand.
Since I’ve been here they stopped farming sugar in the valley. So no more controlled burns to harvest the sugar cane and a lot more dry scrub brush which is a factor in a lot of the fires. In the last 2 years they’ve started planting actual food crops but it’s a fraction of the coverage that the sugar cane was providing.
They keep building resorts or luxury condos but it seems like no one is willing to build the infrastructure needed to support what is already here.
There is more and more locally grown produce (and meat) it’s often more expensive than what comes from the mainland though. I’m hoping the mahi pono farms (formerly HCNS) being so large change that.
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Thanks for the answer, I appreciate that.
What’s happened is absolutely tragic.
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From what i know mahi pono is just another cali conglomerate moving in. At least they are watering the valley and keep it from turning to a dustbowl
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I’ve seen this on the news in Australia, along with the many wild fires happening in the northern hemisphere. We are now crossing over all to soon into our fire season.
For many years we have shared fire fighting resources with the US but this is becoming impossible given the overlap of our fire seasons given the change in climate.
With 60mph winds don’t even think about ‘stay and protect’ your property… just evacuate and get out as early as you can. Don’t think about it, just GO!
With high winds trees don’t ‘catch on fire’ they explode from the radiant heat. Have driven at 50 and watched in the rear view mirror as wave after wave of forest exploded behind me.
Nothing survives. Just don’t stay.
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Yeah I’m not sure if it’s just HCNS rebranded or what. The main difference I see is crop diversity and food crops (I guess sugar cane is a food crop but yeah). People for years complained they wanted to see food crops grown. It’s happening now people are complaining about who and how. I know they were offering extremely cheap leases to locals who wanted to grow crops. If I had time and the knowledge I would’ve been all for trying to plant Koa or sandal wood (assuming such a thing would be practical).
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Lahaina Banyan will survive. I feel certain. Any of its dozens of prop roots can make an independent plant. Worst case scenario I foresee is a city-block sized forest of genetically identical clones.
The tree is an old friend of mine.
I’ve spent many hours sitting on the benches in its shade, carving little things from koa wood, killing time. Sometimes tourists approached me (shyly) to buy them from me unfinished.
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Good specific explanation. More generically…
Windward - anything upwind of the observer
Leeward - anything downwind of the observer
“Leeward” is usually pronounced “LOO-word” and can be shortened to “lee” or “lee-side”. “Windward” can be shortened “to weather”
To remember to pee on the lee / pee to the lee is an great way to remember these terms. One refers to the side of the platform from which you pee, the other refers to the direction. Your results will not vary.
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If it is pronounced LOO, I might not remember that rhyme exactly right…
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