Brady breeze12/7/2023 Val’s middle son, Eric, and his wife, Lei, who lived about a mile down the road with their three young sons, called: Their apartment’s roof had blown off. She, Kali and Casey stayed hunkered down in their home, thinking the storm would pass. The power had been out all day, and the wind howled in a way she had never heard, she said. It was the wind that warned Val something was wrong on Aug. The Casco family prays before eating in Napili, Hawaii. Now comes something arguably worse: reckoning with the burdens they face in the long, complicated journey toward recovery. The nearly manic rush of adrenaline that first propelled the survivors forward has begun to dissipate. Others found temporary shelter in the hotels they worked for on the tourism-reliant island, while still more leaned on official resources erected by the Maui County, Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some took refuge with loved ones across West Maui, packing a dozen or more to a home. Many have bounced from one lodging to another, grasping for a place to stay put. In the weeks since the fire, Lahaina’s families have been wracked with uncertainty over what the future holds - if they will rebuild, how and when - and have often been unsure of things as basic as where they will sleep. “You think you’re set in life, ready to retire,” Val said. For what felt like the umpteenth time since the fire, she and her family were about to lose what little they had. Earlier that day, Val had been told that her temporary housing at a local hotel would run out in about two weeks.
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