News Wrap: Federal teams arrive to help search efforts after deadly Maui fires

John Yang:

Good evening, I'm John Yang. The wildfires that devastated parts of Maui are now Hawaii's deadliest natural disaster since statehood in 1959. The death toll stands at 80 and it's expected to grow higher as federal help arrives to take the search into damaged buildings. And the Hawaii Attorney General says she'll investigate why warning sirens remain silent.

Officials say more than 2,000 structures were damaged or destroyed. The vast majority of the residences.

A somber homecoming for residents returning to the historic town of Lahaina, some taking stock of a charred and smoldering remains of their homes, an eerie traffic jam of incinerated vehicles, the once vibrant economic hub of the island now a hellscape.

Johanna and Leo escaped with their two children, but their house and the life they'd built reduced to rubble.

Johanna:

We don't know how we're going to live. We don't know how to start over again.

John Yang:

Officials say some 4,500 people need shelter, some packed into evacuation centers.

Lynn Robinson, Lahaina Resident:

A lot of us are post-traumatic stress shell shock and we kind of combined with this, you know, it's kind of healing for us in a way, you know, because we've all been through this trauma.

John Yang:

Donations are pouring in from parts of the island that the flames spare.

Nambe Cartellini, Volunteer:

That tent is constantly sorting clothes and all kinds of necessities. Seems like we're all sticking together as Maui Ohana.

John Yang:

Officials estimate the damage and destruction at more than five and a half billion dollars. But for many, the losses can't be measured in dollars and cents.

Shane Dudoit, Deputy Director for Parks and Recreation, Maui County: It's more than just a bit of fun. It's beautiful people. You know, my best friends have lost houses. Guys, we're still nowhere friends family. I mean, we're a very tight knit community. This is going to be a long hard fought battle to get through this.

John Yang:

Another kind of natural disaster in parts of China. Heavy rains force more than 80,000 people to evacuate their homes in the Southwest in the West Chinese state media reported two people dead and 16 missing in a mudslide.

And northeast China is bracing for the remnants of a typhoon an inch and a half of rain is forecast to fall every hour. Many of the rivers in the region are already above warning levels.

A migrant boat crossing the English Channel capsized today leaving six people dead. 50 others were rescued by British and French vessels and taken to Dover, England. More migrants are attempting the crossing now that the weather is milder.

British officials said that on Thursday, 755 people cross the channel in small boats the most in a single day so far this year. And a three-year-old child died on one of the buses Texas has been using to send migrants out of the state. It happened in Southern Illinois on the way to Chicago.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management so the bus pulled over and 911 was called as soon as the child's health problem became clear. It's the first death Texas has announced under Governor Greg Abbott's program of busing migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to cities around the country led by Democrats.

More than 30,000 migrants have been bused out of the state since the program began in April 2022.

Still to come on PBS News weekend, a new film goes inside the extreme sport of freediving, and a Brief But Spectacular take on expressing feelings through art.