The destruction in Lahaina is incredible. What are the early estimates of insured losses? Guessing it is less widespread than a hurricane, so maybe not as big $wise. Curoius from an soa guy as to considerations
1 Like
I’m seeing between 1000-2000 structures destroyed, and I think they would be a total loss including all personal property inside. Seems like it could end up 5-10B pretty easily since these are 1m plus houses and multi unit condos and hotels. But I’m also an SOA guy just making things up.
The pictures are really devastating. I stayed north of there in Kaanapali (years ago) which sounds like it was spared. This seems like it will be difficult to rebuild… just getting resources in there to do the work will be challenge.
Given that much of the damage was just as much due to “hurricane force” winds . . . I’m not sure that it’s necessarily less widespread than a hurricane. The biggest difference is that there isn’t water damage that will complicate the loss adjustment since most policies will cover both wind damage and fire damage.
And as The_Pres noted, many losses are going to be complete losses; so there’s likely to be considerable payments for Additional Living Expenses (a common benefit of most policies) to pay for lodging until their home is rebuilt. The question is actually going to be whether the destroyed/damaged residences are a primary residence or secondary/vacation residences.
Demand surge is going to be a thing, too.
Was there wind damage in the area without the fires? Lahaina is completely destroyed because of the fire, but this is a mile or so stretch along the highway where nearby towns i think were mostly spared.
A hurricane coming on shore i suppose would have a similar area of core damage where everything is leveled, but a much larger area of moderate damage out from the center.
1 Like
Oh, I thought the damage was mostly in Lahaina and the rest of the island was spared. That wouldn’t be the case in a hurricane would it?
Maui is tiny but I thought Maalaea and Kihei and Wailea and Kaanapali and Napili and Kapalua and basically the entire windward side of the island were ok.
News outlets appear to be focusing just on the wildfire devastation; so it’s unclear what other damage might have been realized with the nearby hurricane.
But after watching this “news update” from Aug 7; I’m thinking that some are playing a bit loose with their descriptors (winds driven by a nearby hurricane gusting up to over 65 mph vs. having sustained winds at that speed).
Further, that hurricane was well outside the range of directly impacting the islands, IMO; but certainly demonstrates the impact a hurricane system has on weather quite a ways away.
So yeah, no where near as wide spread as a hurricane.
IANAM, but not sure if the high pressure dome driving the winds was a result of the hurricane, or it steered the hurricane south of the islands. But those high winds coupled with a dry time turned into a devastating fire.
1 Like
Might take about as many years as it took to build it up in the first place. So, 60 years or so.
Meanwhile, the rest of the island can jack up their housing and rental prices.
Kaanapali might not be the best place to go for a while with all the construction traffic in Lahaina. Wailea and Makena will be the places to go. Or big island and Kauai, just skip Maui in total.
Yeah Lahaina is sort of the heart of Maui… the majority of restaurants & shops are in Lahaina.
But if you just want to hang out on the beach then the rest of the island will still be nice. I do see there’s some upcountry wildfires too, so I’m not sure what that means for Haleakala, but if you can actually get there I think the crater is nowhere near the upcountry fires so it might be fine.
The road to Hana looks fine.
After some elevation level, there is no vegetation to speak of.
Hana is on the wet side.
Lahaina is good vacation spot on the island because is is quite dry and offers good beach weather, but it is quite a drive from almost everything that is not on western Maui. I started poking around looking at rentals a few months ago, and I thought the Kihei are would have been a nice area to stay in.
It sounds like they are just generally trying to get tourists off the island and keep more from coming in. If something like this happens anywhere in the lower 48, you can send in a few trucks with supplies and resources from a neighboring state quite easily, but everything will need to come up through cargo planes in the short term response, According to Wikipedia, Maui has a population of 164k, and Lahaina represents about 8% of that at 13k. That seems like it will be a very significant shock to tourism on the island for many years.
Eh, not really. I mean, it’s on the main road on the leeward side of the island. It’s fairly convenient to Kihei and Wailea, I thought, and pretty central to everything else too. If you specifically want something in Kihei then yeah, obviously Kihei is more convenient. But every time I’ve gone to Maui I’ve spent most of my non-beach time either in Lahaina or on Haleakala. 
It has been decades since I have been, but I think the President is more correct. Two roads to Lahaina from central Maui. The south road is the main road, the north road winds quite a bit. It easily took 25-30 minutes to get from Lahaina to Kahului. Would even be slower on the north road. The remote nature of Hawaii and Lahaina on Maui will make this a slow rebuild.
I think we stayed a bit further west in Kaanapali, but i fell like we spent a lot of time driving back and forth along that highway on the south coast to get to central maui and beyond. Google maps has it around a 40 minute drive.
This was mostly two separate trips to Hana and haleakala from our resort. Maybe a third trip to the pineapple plantation somewhere in the center? Lahaina seems more about dining, shopping, and beaches, right? Close to kapalua and golf, so i guys out just depends on what you plan to do.
Oh, well if you’re classifying a 25-30 minute drive from the airport / port as a hardship, then sure. Might be slower by truck or in rebuilding construction traffic.
Definitely do not take the northern road if you’re trying to make time. Even to Napili. Go through the center of the island on highway 30.
Of course I don’t know the condition of the road itself. Repairing any damage to the (one & only) road would be a critical first step, certainly.
I stayed at the Hyatt on Kaanapali beach several years ago, which is technically in Lahaina as it’s at the far south end of Kaanapali. We’d walk often towards Lahaina, as there’s a great spot for sea turtle watching in Wahikuli park on the north end of Lahaina. It’s hard to imagine that basically that entire town is destroyed.
It may not directly hit hotel rooms as it looks like the major resorts were spared, but it’s likely that huge portions of the workforce are homeless and it will take a long time to rebuild. Tourism may be hit by lack of labor across many occupations.
I remember cycling past a eucalpytus forest halfway to the top of Haleakala. Those things love to burn. The top half is pretty barren as you say.
Based on this map, it looks like there may be extensive power outages in Kaanapali
If you like to watch the honu, stay in Napili. They love the bay there and you can just bring your own snorkel gear, hop in the water, and swim with them every morning.
After it’s reopened for tourists, that is.
I went to a destination wedding and we stayed in Napili and I’d definitely stay there again. It was awesome.
Have also stayed in Kaanapali a couple of times and Lahaina proper. Lahaina was the most convenient if you want to drink and not worry about driving, but Napili was definitely my favorite.
The turtles swim right up to the rocks on the shore in that area just south of Kaanapali to munch on sea plants on the rocks. You can of course get in and snorkel with them too.