The full story is here .  While Lahina has some unique issues (historic sites, limited resources because of its island location, the fire was so hot that some water pipes melted) and 100+ building permits have been issued, the fact is that that this rate of recovery is far too slow. As the article points out: After Hurricane Iniki destroyed 2,000 homes on the Island of Kauai in 1992, most of those homes were rebuilt within a year.  Kathleen and I visited Kauai just months after Iniki and things were a beehive of activity. The more we build bureaucracies and government in general, the slower things go.  A National Disaster Review Board will be able, over time, to create best recovery practices for localities like Hawaii and California. We simply cannot afford to wait -- Congress needs to get on this issue immediately.  

Another disaster, another FEMA scandal.   The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an utter disgrace. I have been following its antics since Katrina . It's #1 priority in disasters seems to be photo-ops.  The full Daily Mail  story is here . Kathleen and I have merely toured the Grand Wailea beach resort as we can't afford to stay there! I just went to their website to get the current price of a room. See for yourself. Rooms start  at $900/night.  Meanwhile, the people of Lahaina had to listen to President Biden drone on yesterday about a kitchen fire (no one hurt) at his home that threatened his prized Corvette.  Local government officials in Hawaii continue to stonewall residents of Lahaina as to the number of deaths. The current death toll is an awful 114; there are indirect indications the total number of deaths may be significantly higher. When residents press the mayor for answers, this is what they get.  Lahaina is hardly the only tim...

Now we know why there were all of the reports of low water pressure while firefighters and residents were trying to fight the Lahaina, Maui, fires that -- so far -- have killed 114. The water manager, a graduate of a program sponsored by President Obama, was more concerned about 'equity' than saving lives. The almost unbelievable story is here .  M. Kaleo Manuel, former deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, waited for more than five hours to release water during the wildfires that devastated Maui, according to reports. Note it says, former  deputy director, as he has been "reassigned."  I tend to be anti-litigation because, most of the time, only the attorneys win. That said, I hope the survivors sue the pants of the people didn't release and water and patted themselves on the back about not sounding the " all-hazard" warning sirens . BTW, the "all-hazard" description is on the website of the people bragging a...

The point of this nonsense is to proactively deflect criticism of state officials. Report from CNN. The conditions causing the Lahaina Fire, which has taken 99 precious lives, to be so intense were  not  caused by global warming nor were they caused by Hurricane Dora, nor were they caused by invasive grasses.  The cause has been identified as a mountain wave somewhat similar to the mountain wave involved in the 2022 Marshall Fire in the Boulder, Colorado area. Initial high winds blew down a power line which sparked a fire. Per the New York Times'  graphic below, Maui fire officials, perhaps prematurely, declared the fire was "contained." New York Times Then, the mountain wave helped create extreme winds and, for Hawaii, extremely low humidity -- perfect conditions for the fire to spread. Those winds may not have been detected as they should have been because there is no National Weather Service (NWS) weather observing station in west Maui! The analysis identifying t...