Aloha! For those of you who are planning a trip to Maui soon, you might want to change your plans to another island, while Lahaina recovers from the devastating fires that have basically burned the whole town to the ground yesterday, from what we can see from photos . I am safe on Kauai, but my eyes have been glued to the local TV news coverage of the shocking reports of thousands of people displaced, hundreds of homes burned out, boats, cars and businesses with everything in them ashes. There are fires in Kihei, Kula and other parts of Maui as well as some fires on the Big Island.

We have clear skies here on Kauai, with just some extra wind and sea mist from the hurricane that passed below the island chain.

Many displaced visitors and even residents from Maui have been offered shelter on Oahu, in the convention center during this emergency. I've heard of several visitors who are switching their flights to Kauai.

This was a totally unexpected result of a storm several hundred miles away bringing on gusty winds that allowed these fires to spread uncontrollably. Winds were too high for the helicopters to fly yesterday, but they are out today dropping water from the sky.

Of course, everyone on social media is posting prayers for Maui, but I've got to wonder how effective it is to pray to the same god they presumed started the fires... These are likely the same people who bemoan their tax dollars going to state and federal emergency and disaster relief.

Seems a lot of the super religious people are more concerned with the huge banyan tree in the center of town, rather than the thousands of displaced people, the 36 (known deaths) 20 severe burn cases, and most likely many more to be found when the smoke clears. The fire came on so suddenly that many people jumped into the ocean to save themselves, and then the fire got to the boats and people say there was fire on the water from the fuel spilling.

I know things like this happen on the mainland, but we rarely get disasters like this here in Hawaii. We had flooding on Kauai a few years ago, and before that the deadliest event was the Hilo Tsunami of 1960. This is why it's shocking to residents here.

Anyway, for those of you who have visited Lahaina, and remember how fun it was to walk along Front Street, especially during Halloween, or hot summer nights... it will be some time before the town can be rebuilt