The Hawaii wildfires have reached a grim milestone as the death toll rose to 67, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the state’s history.
Hundreds more have been reported missing and the toll may still rise.
It comes as some Lahaina residents are being allowed to briefly return home on Friday to take stock of the damage to their fire-ravaged town.
They returned amid warnings they would be greeted by “destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives”.
State officials reopened Lahaina to people with proof of residency on Friday for the first time since flames swept rapidly through early this week, razing much of the historic town.
People who were evacuated with only the clothes on their backs told the BBC they were concerned it may be hard to prove residency.
A curfew will operate daily from 22:00 to 06:00 local time, and some of the hardest hit parts of the town remain restricted to search and rescue personnel.
West Maui, where Lahaina is located, is still without power and water. Search crews are still in the area looking for wildfire victims.
On the Honoapiilani Highway, one of the only available routes in to Lahaina, cars sat bumper-to-bumper, with families looking tired and worried alongside trucks carrying water and fuel.
One family told the BBC they had stayed in Lahaina through the worst of the fire, only leaving on Thursday to buy much-needed supplies.
Their house was still standing, but they’ve “been sitting in the dark”.
The family told the BBC they thought the number of confirmed dead, though already high, would rise further. “On our street alone it’s 50 people,” one family member said.
Governor Josh Green warned Hawaiians on Friday what they found in Lahaina would be difficult.
“Lahaina is a devastated zone. They will see destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives,” said the governor, who visited the town on Thursday. “Be very safe, be very careful.”
He said it will take many years to repair the damage caused by wildfires on the island of Maui. More than 1,000 buildings had been destroyed in Lahaina, a coastal town with a rich history that attracts some two million tourists a year.
On Friday, Maui County officials also confirmed 12 additional deaths in Lahaina.
That makes it Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster, eclipsing the toll of a tsunami in 1960 that killed 61 people.
Despite some residents being allowed to return to Lahaina on Friday, many of the evacuees at the War Memorial Stadium shelter, about 20 miles (32km) from the historic town, say they are not in a rush to go back.
