“Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina's Front Street. A number of residents jumped into the water off Maui as they tried to escape the flaming debris and overheated black smoke enveloping downtown. For now, the number of confirmed dead stands at 115, a number that the county said is expected to rise. The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted for. The FBI said Tuesday there were 1,000 to 1,100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.
Maui County's lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during during bad windstorms and said the “severe and catastrophic losses ... could have easily been prevented" if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.
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