Surreal helicopter footage shows the extent of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Wednesday.
Richie Olsten shared the footage on Facebook after flying over historic Lahaina Town. His video shows entire blocks of buildings reduced to rubble with smoke still billowing in many areas.
“Oh my gosh. Look at the harbor,” he says. “This looks like Baghdad or something.”
At least six people have died and at least two dozen others have been injured after fire raced through the popular tourist destination.
“Do NOT go to Lahaina Town,” the county tweeted hours before all roads in and out of West Maui’s biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel. More than 2,100 people spent Tuesday night in evacuation centers.
The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters.
Aircraft resumed flights Wednesday as the strong winds diminished somewhat.
The Coast Guard on Tuesday rescued 14 people including two children, who had fled into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the county said in a statement.
