CHARLES CITY, Iowa — Kim Wendel and her husband recently returned from a trip to Maui. They were looking forward to introducing their friends to a place near and dear to their hearts."It is my favorite place to go," said Wendel. "And Lahaina Town, the historic town, is my absolute favorite place to go on the island.The group arrived toward the end of July for a relaxing trip set to run until Aug. 14. They had ...
CHARLES CITY, Iowa — Kim Wendel and her husband recently returned from a trip to Maui. They were looking forward to introducing their friends to a place near and dear to their hearts.
"It is my favorite place to go," said Wendel. "And Lahaina Town, the historic town, is my absolute favorite place to go on the island.
The group arrived toward the end of July for a relaxing trip set to run until Aug. 14. They had no idea what Mother Nature would have in store for them in the coming days.
"It's the closest thing to a warzone I've ever seen," Wendell told Local 5.
One morning, the couple woke up to no electricity.
"So we had heard that there was maybe some power lines down at that point, no concern."
But she says that lack of power went on for days.
"Which means there was no gas stations, there's no restaurants," Wendell added. "There was some food markets that were open. But the lines were extremely long. And they were just like a cash-only type of thing."
With no internet and spotty cellphone service, information slowly trickled in from worried family members.
"We were getting intermittent text messages with our kids. And then we started hearing some inklings that Lahaina Town had caught fire."
As days ticked by with limited resources, Wendel says people began taking care of one another. She recounts a man who gave them meat from his freezer, or a construction crew that shared gasoline with their group so they could make it to the airport. Wendel says her group tried to pay it forward.
"My husband and my friend's husband were able to help unload the trucks," Wendel said. "Which made us feel like we were doing something because we didn't know what to do. "
Now that the couple has returned home safely, Wendel says they are still struggling to process all that's happened. And their hearts ache for those who call the island home.
"It's definitely kept us up at night. It's just, we're just devastated for them. We had no idea. And I think there's a guilt there. because we just didn't know."
Wendel is working to help a business owner she met on the island who she says lost everything in the Lahaina fires.