'There's nothing left': Triangle man gives emotional, firsthand account of devastation from Hawaii wildfires

As we know, Hawaii is a very popular vacation spot. This morning we are hearing from people who left RDU for vacation but are now facing a very different and devastating experience.

Hawaiian officials are urging tourists to postpone their trips, but we are hearing from North Carolinians who are already there.

One man — a familiar name here in the Triangle — is in Hawaii as the wildfires rage on. Greg Taylor gives an emotional account of the destruction.

Taylor was exonerated after serving 17 years in prison  for a crime he says he didn’t commit.

Now reclaiming his life, he has since taken up whale photography..spending half the year living in Maui.

“You know its heartbreaking to see that place so destroyed — there’s nothing left,” Taylor said. “The pictures that I see of the harbor – all those ships are gone. The boats are burned and sank and the historic buildings, and not even the ashes from the buildings are there.”

WRAL News also spoke with a family from Garner who came here for a 10-year anniversary and birthday celebration. They are now facing a scary experience.

The family said they are located in the southern part of the island and could see and hear the winds blowing the flames at a rapid pace.

“We were planning to go to that side of the island today for the second half of our trip,”  And There was no notification from the hotels, we found out that all the power was down, the phone lines were down and it was just kind of a scary moment to figure out what are we gonna do?”

At least 36 dead from Hawaii wildfires

A tragic and devastating update Thursday morning about those massive wildfires burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Local officials announced just about two hours ago that the death toll has jumped to 36.

Those deaths are in the town of Lahaina, where this video shows the community burnt to the ground — and the lieutenant governor said the road to recovery will take years.

Crews continue to battle fires in Maui and the Big Island, which have been fanned in part by strong winds from Hurricane Dora.

In a 3 a.m. news conference, we learned that more than 11,000 people have been evacuated from the island since the fires started. Another 2,000 are expected to fly out later in the day Thursday.

The island’s main highway is back open again — giving more people a chance to get to the airport to get out.

Officials say the full extent of the damage may not be known for weeks or even months.