Page 6 - Ryan Longman News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Hawaii's landscape is changing in other ways, beyond becoming drier. As wildfires become more common, some native vegetation, which is poorly adapted to fire, has been destroyed. In other places, including the area around Lahaina, long-standing sugar cane farms stopped operating around the 1990s; the land stopped getting irrigated. In the place of those crops and native vegetation, dry and invasive grasses spread. Those grasses that are better able to regrow after a fire, but are also quick to ignite. That has contributed to fires spreading more quickly.

An online database called the Maui Fire People Locator shared widely on social media showed more than 1,300 people had yet to be located as of Thursday evening.

Declining rainfall, rising temperatures and invasive species have left the islands more susceptible to wildfires.

NY Times: At least 36 people have been killed as devastating wildfires sweep the islands.

IT was a draw being celebrated like a victory.