An aerial picture reveals a purple roofed home that survived the fires surrounded by destroyed properties and buildings burned to the bottom within the historic Lahaina within the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii on August 10, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Pictures
Maui County on Thursday sued Hawaiian Electric for damages over the lethal wildfires which have claimed greater than 100 lives and resulted in billions of {dollars} in estimated property losses.
Shares of Hawaiian Electrical fell 6% in afterhours buying and selling. The electrical utility stated it should droop its quarterly dividend to shore up its money place within the wake of the fires.
Maui County stated Hawaiian Electrical inexcusably left its powerlines energized regardless of a warning from the Nationwide Climate Service that prime winds from Hurricane Dora and drought situations on the island created a excessive fireplace threat.
The wildfires lowered the historic city of Lahaina to ruins within the deadliest blazes within the U.S. in additional than a century and the worst catastrophe in Hawaii state historical past. At the very least 115 folks have died and greater than 1,000 are nonetheless lacking.
Maui County stated the demise and destruction may have been prevented had Hawaiian Electrical shut the facility off. The county cited preliminary estimates from the Federal Emergency Administration Company that it’ll price greater than $5 billion to rebuild Lahaina.
The criticism filed by Maui County is the newest in a string of lawsuits in opposition to Hawaiian Electrical in search of damages for the catastrophic wildfires.
Fitch not too long ago downgrade Hawaiian Electrical’s credit standing to junk standing, warning that the corporate faces an existential menace from greater than $3.8 billion in potential legal responsibility for the Maui wildfires. Moody’s estimates the Maui wildfires have brought about as much as $6 billion economic losses.
Maui County additionally stated within the lawsuit that its 2020 hazard mitigation plan warned that western Maui, the place Lahaina is situated, was at a excessive threat of wildfires. Hawaiian Electrical understood this threat and filed a $190 million request in 2022 with the state public utilities fee to bolster its energy grid, the county stated.
Regardless of this, Hawaiian Electrical operated utility poles fabricated from wooden that are way more vulnerable to decay in Maui, the county stated. Lots of the wooden poles on Maui had been severely broken by superior decay which contributed to their failure throughout the excessive winds, the county alleged.