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Hawaii: Risks & Trends

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Same standard as every other page on this site: every figure below is independently sourced, and figures that vary across sources, or measure genuinely different things, are flagged as such rather than collapsed into one number that looks more precise than the underlying data actually supports.

The 2023 Lahaina wildfire

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Date ignited August 8, 2023
Deaths 100-102 (sources vary slightly as the final count was confirmed)
Structures destroyed 2,200+, roughly 81% of Lahaina
Total damage $5.5 billion
Insured losses $3.4 billion
Historical ranking Deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century; Hawaii's second-costliest disaster on record after Hurricane Iniki (1992)

Why this fire was so much deadlier than a comparable mainland wildfire

Lahaina’s fire moved through a dense historic town, much of it wood-frame construction, with a limited number of roads out and high winds from a passing hurricane offshore accelerating the spread. California and Oregon’s wildfire case studies on this site mostly describe fires moving through forested or suburban terrain with more evacuation options; Lahaina’s combination of density, construction materials, and route scarcity is a materially different risk profile.

The 2018 Kilauea lower Puna eruption

MetricFigure
Eruption start May 3, 2018
Land inundated 32.4 sq km in the Puna District
Structures destroyed 723
Roads cut 50 km of public roads, including two major highways
Residents evacuated ~3,000
Injuries 24
Property damage ~$800 million (2018 USD)
Notable infrastructure loss Puna Geothermal Venture, ~25% of the Big Island's electricity supply, shut down and later damaged by lava

A hazard that doesn't behave like the others on this site

Lava flows move slowly enough that Kilauea’s 2018 eruption caused zero direct deaths despite destroying hundreds of homes, but the land itself, not just the structures on it, is often permanently lost or buried. Every other disaster covered on this site leaves land that can eventually be rebuilt on; volcanic hazard is the exception.

Sources