A number of significant historical sites in Maui’s tourist hub of Lahaina have been destroyed by fires, according to a CNN analysis of Maxar Technologies satellite imagery.
Several buildings along Lahaina’s historic Front Street have been impacted, according to the satellite imagery, which was taken at 11:03 a.m. local time Wednesday.
Among the losses is a towering banyan tree — one of the largest in the US — which was imported to the island from India in 1873, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. There appears to be no vegetation on the tree when compared to earlier images.
The Lahaina Heritage Museum, housed in a courthouse just west of the tree, has been burned so badly that the roof has collapsed and only its walls remain, the images show.
The Baldwin Home Museum — an 1830s-era house believed to be the oldest home on the island — has been reduced to ash. Lahaina Restoration Foundation executive director Theo Morrison confirmed to CNN earlier Wednesday that the house had been burnt.
Further north, the Wo Hing Temple Museum has also been destroyed. The two-story structure was built in 1912 to be a temple and social hall for the island’s Chinese immigrant community.
