Oprah Winfrey, who’s a part-time Maui resident, handed out supplies to evacuees at an emergency shelter there on Thursday amid what she calls “overwhelming” devastation.
The unprecedented wildfires in Maui, which have resulted in 55 deaths, a quantity anticipated to rise as many stay lacking, is probably going the most important pure catastrophe in Hawaii’s historical past and has devastated the historic city of Lahaina. More than 11,000 individuals fled their properties, filling emergency shelters.
The media mogul visited the War Memorial Stadium in Maui twice on Thursday, handing out supplies that she bought between visits.
“It’s a little overwhelming, you know,” an emotional Winfrey, 69, instructed the BBC. “But I’m really so pleased to [see] so many people supporting. People are just bringing what they can and doing what they can.”
The discuss present host mentioned she got here earlier “just to see what people needed and then went shopping” to get what individuals really wanted. It included pillows sheets, pillowcases, shampoo, diapers.
Footage confirmed Winfrey strolling round speaking with individuals there. She handed out pillows, unpackaging them and, in a single video, placing it behind an individual’s head.
Hawaii News Now shared a photograph of Winfrey posing with residents at the shelter.
The OWN honcho is one in all Maui’s greatest personal landholders, proudly owning property in Kula, Hana and Haleakala. It’s unclear if any of her property sustained harm. A rep for Winfrey has not but responded to request for remark.
The identical day as Winfrey’s go to, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the scene in Lahaina as “catastrophic” and mentioned it is probably the most important pure catastrophe within the state’s historical past. The Lahaina hearth was 80 % contained as of Thursday. A fireplace in Pulehu, which is close to the middle of the island, was 70 % contained. A fireplace in Upcountry Maui was nonetheless awaiting evaluation.
“We’ve also seen many hundreds of homes destroyed, and that’s going to take a great deal of time to recover from,” Green mentioned.
There are many celeb residents of Maui, additionally together with Clint Eastwood, Mick Fleetwood, Steven Tyler and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Locals have been calling for well-known residents to pitch in.
Jason Momoa — who was born in Honolulu — has been sharing updates and sharing methods to assist.
“We are devastated and heartbroken for our friends and ‘ohana on Maui who been impacted by the recent wildfires,” Momoa wrote.
For these trying to assist these impacted by the Maui wildfire, learn extra from Yahoo News.
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