A year after wildfires tore through Lahaina, Hawaii, restauranteur Qiana Di Bari is still packing up trash bags, each filled with smoke-damaged belongings, and carrying them out of her home one at a time in a painstaking effort to rebuild.

It’s a ritual that continues to play out across west Maui after the Aug. 8 fires killed at least 102 people and destroyed the former capital of the kingdom of Hawaii.

The home Di Bari shares with her husband, Italian-born Michele, and their daughter, 13, was one of only four on their street to survive the inferno, she said.

Di Bari is one of thousands of residents attempting to rebuild her home and business amid a flurry of instability. 

NBC News spoke with a dozen people affected by the fire and each described experiencing an unrelenting cycle of housing and job insecurity that has compounded their trauma. 

Two families said they have bounced from hotel to hotel, their stays extended through FEMA until next year. Others have moved in with relatives to save money. One person left Maui after being priced out of rental units.

The impact of the fire, one of three that erupted on that windy day last summer, has reached beyond the shores of Maui, devastating Hawaii’s tourism economy and costing the state more than $1 billion in lost revenue.

The road to recovery from a massive fire like the one that leveled Lahaina is never quick. Rubble has to be cleared, remains identified and soil and water tested long before any construction can start. Then there are insurance and legal questions.

After a 2018 fire killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, California, it took more than four years for some survivors to receive their insurance payouts. Homes and businesses continue to be rebuilt and new foundations laid. 

Today, many Lahaina residents who lost their homes are still displaced as they scramble from one temporary shelter to another.

“Even a year later, people are still in the unknown,” said Jamie Nahoo’ikaika, a host at Di Bari’s popular restaurant near Front Street, Sale Pepe, which burned to the ground. “Everybody is still waiting, and you wonder why it’s taking so long.”

She is counting the days until Sale Pepe reopens so she can go back to work. In the meantime, she and her husband, Jaret-Levi, a Lahaina native and head custodian at King Kamehameha III Elementary, transformed her mother’s garage into a studio for themselves, their 3-year-old son and 9-month-old daughter.

Sale Pepe will reopen in a new location sometime in the fall, Di Bari said, and she intends to rehire a handful of employees, including Nahoo’ikaika.

The Di Baris have stitched together financing for the restaurant through insurance claims, small business loans and a GoFundMe campaign started by their New York-based creative director.

“We wanted to send a message that Lahaina is worth staying for,” said Di Bari, who once managed the hip hop group Tribe Called Quest.

The 12 residents interviewed by NBC News all said they intend to return to Lahaina as soon as they can afford to rebuild their businesses and homes.  

“The true thing about Lahaina people is you cannot take Lahaina people out of Lahaina,” Nahoo’ikaika said.

Tourism remains down

The fire not only displaced thousands of people, it threatened to erase the cultural and historic center of Hawaii’s former kingdom and those who inherited its legacy.

The sidewalks and corners where generations of families “talked stories,” as locals say, were wiped out in mere hours.  

It also devastated Maui’s tourism-dependent economy and caused more than $6 billion in damage, according to a state report. 

Many tourists postponed or canceled trips to Maui even as local businesses encouraged people to visit areas not impacted by the fire. The cancellations cost Maui $9 million in revenue each day since the fire, according to Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

“Lahaina was one of busiest tracts in all of Hawaii,” said James Tokioka, director of the state’s tourism and economic development department. “It went from that to nothing.” 

In all, nearly $10.2 million in grants has been awarded to more than 1,000 businesses in Lahaina, his office said.

Across the island, tourism is still down. The first half of 2024 saw a nearly 24% drop in visitors to Maui from 1.5 million people in 2023 to 1.1 million this year.

Spending slipped from $3.47 billion in the first half of 2023 to $2.64 billion in the same period this year. 

Maui’s unemployment rate is higher than neighboring islands at 4.5% compared to 3% statewide.

Residents remain displaced

A recent survey of Maui residents by the Hawaiʻi State Rural Health Association found that 72% of residents said they were either directly or indirectly impacted by the fire. 

Of those who were directly affected, 71% said they cut back on groceries to save money, and 59% said they have moved at least three times since the fire. 

“It really punctuates the trauma and the sense of uncertainty,” said Lisa Grove, the study’s lead researcher. “It’s lots of folks who have been there for generations — it’s people with the deepest roots.”

Filipinos comprised the largest share of people living in Lahaina. They settled in the area generations earlier while working at the sugar cane plantations and quickly became the second-largest racial group in the state, according to the 2020 census. 

The state, FEMA and other agencies are working to build some 1,044 transitional housing units for the more than 3,000 households displaced by the fire, Gov. Josh Green said last week.

A $4 billion settlement of more than 600 lawsuits against the state, county and utilities reached last week will help pay for rebuilding.

Despite the progress, Kalama McEwen, whose neighborhood was ground zero for the deadly inferno, said he’s still trying to piece together his life.

His family of seven moved in with his in-laws after their home was destroyed. His businesses, a mechanic shop and a tow truck company, were underinsured and he was unable to recoup losses, he said.

The combined households can add up to more than 20 people on any given day. Sometimes relatives wait in line to use the bathroom and take turns sleeping on the floor. McEwen built a shack in the backyard and ran an extension cord for electricity to create a small, private space, but he said the accommodations are untenable.

One of his sons works at a local resort, and he and his wife escape there with their youngest children every few weeks to get a break. 

“We were one of the lucky ones,” he said, speaking poolside from the hotel where his son works. “At least we had somewhere to go. We lost everything but we’re still here.”

Maui resident Cindy Canham worked at Whaler’s Locker on Front Street in Lahaina since 2018, selling rare and collectible items, like hand-carved pocket knives and locally made jewelry. Before that, she worked at a shop across the street for 35 years.

“Lahaina was a loss for everybody on the island,” she said. “Even if you’ve lived here just six months, you’ve got a Lahaina memory.”

She moved to Maui in 1978 from Texas in what was meant to be a summer vacation before starting college. She never left. Canham met her late husband a year later near the historic banyan tree that was nearly destroyed in the fire.

Whaler’s Locker, which opened in 1971, was destroyed in the fire. Although the owner sells items online and at local markets a few times a week, there isn’t enough work to keep Canham on the payroll.

Canham, who lives about 25 miles away in the town of Kihei, wasn’t eligible for federal assistance beyond unemployment benefits because she doesn’t live in Lahaina. Now, for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president, she wonders if she’ll be forced to leave Maui.

“It was my town,” she said of Lahaina. “Yet I wasn’t considered a fire survivor because I didn’t lose my home. It’s hard for some people to understand what I feel.”

Waking up the morning of my 9 a.m. tour at Hi Honey Farm I felt like a kid waking up on a school day knowing a field trip was the only thing on the agenda.

Good night’s sleep? Check.

Light breakfast? Check.

Sunny weather? Check.

With our eagerness and excitement in tow, my friend and I were off toward Oʻahu’s iconic North Shore. We got to the end of Snake Road near Thompson’s Corner in Waialua and caught sight of a bright yellow gate with the cutest honey bee sign that read “Local Honey & Apiary Tours.” Once our guide welcomed us in, we parked and walked a short distance on a gravel road. We were more than ready to see what the buzz was about.

Before starting the 1.5-hour tour, we settled into the common lānai area for quick intros and housekeeping rules. We signed waivers and went over dress requirements. (You need to wear socks and closed-toe shoes and wearing little to no perfume.) A porta-potty was available on-site.

Our guide started off with showing us the various plants growing on the property, including pineapple, banana, jackfruit and hibiscus. It’s a sweet haven for bees to collect nectar from.

We headed back to the lānai where we got a mini lesson on the basic hive hierarchy (queen, workers and drones), history of beekeeping and how important bees are to our ecosystem. Our guide made the experience really engaging using colorful visual diagrams that even kids can follow along with. As someone who loved nature documentaries growing up, I was like the kid on the field trip asking all the questions. Did you know that the oldest edible honey ever found was over 5,000 years old? Talk about longevity!

On the tour, you’ll learn about honeybees and beekeeping.
Photo: Courtesy of Hi Honey Farm

Finally, it was time to meet the bees. Our guide helped us slip on the essential protective attire: suit, gloves and hooded mesh veil. After triple-checking that all zippers were zipped and no parts of our skin was exposed, we walked the short distance over to the bee boxes where all of the colonies are kept. The closer we got, the louder the buzzing became, amplifying the vibrations and reminding us were now in their territory.

Our guide removed one of the frames that stores the raw honeycomb and handed it to me for closer inspection. Admittedly, at first it was unnerving being very up close and personal with so many bees—there could be up to 80,000 bees per colony!—but I got used to it. I’ve watched a couple honey bee documentaries before but this raw (honey) footage was simply fascinating.

You get to interact with the farm’s bees on the tour.
Photo: Abby Sadoy

Finding the queen was task No. 1. She continuously migrates between frames ,but we were lucky to find her on the second one we removed. She’s easily camouflaged among her thousands of worker bees but she can be spotted by her abdomen. (It’s a lot more elongated.) Next was witnessing a couple of the 2,000 new bees that get birthed every single day. We sang a quick “Happy Birthday” greeting to each one that hatched. Astoundingly, the honey bee instinct kicked in instantly and off they were joining fellow worker bees in their respective duties. After about a good half hour with the bees, we headed back to the lānai. I was excited I was now able to check “Be a beekeeper for a day” off my summer bucket list.

A unique part of this tour is getting to be a beekeeper for part of it.
Photo: Courtesy of Hi Honey Farm

The last part was arguably everyone’s favorite: tasting 10 of the seasonal varieties of honey, which is never pasteurized or filtered. We had direct samples of ʻōhiʻa lehua, macadamia, christmas berry, eucalyptus, wildflowers, hibiscus, and cacao—each of them with a unique richness and smoothness. We also had slices of avocado topped with bee pollen and the farm’s Hot Hawaiian Honey, as well as vanilla ice cream drizzled with its matcha and pineapple honey. Before we left, we got a chance to pick up a couple jars at its adorable Bee Bus, a black-and-yellow-painted-truck-turned-mini-shop.

The variety of honey available at the farm’s shop.
Photo: Courtesy of Hi Honey Farm

I’ve visited the North Shore many times but this was by far one of the most memorable tours I’ve had in the area. The foodie and nature lover in me would gladly do it all over again.

Avoid getting stung? Check.

Taste organic honey? Check.

Witness how honey bees impact the world? Check.

Here are some tips when you visit the farm:

• Bring water. They provide you with bottled water when you first arrive, but it’s good to bring your own if you get dehydrated quickly.
• Don’t worry about taking photos while you’re in your suit. The guide will be taking photos throughout the tour and provide them at the end.
• Tie it back. If you have long hair, put it in a low bun before putting on the hooded veil to keep it in place without obstructing your view.
• Avoid it if you’re allergic. If you have a bee sting allergy, this tour is not for you.
• Shop at the farm—or later. Products are found online or at any Foodland grocery store.
• Take the bus. If you don’t have access to a car, you can take public transportation. The farm’s entrance is near a bus stop on Kaukonahua Road.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – After a slow start, activity is ramping up in the Eastern Pacific basin as the National Hurricane Center tracks three tropical cyclones.

Forecasters are currently tracking tropical storms Carlotta and Daniel and newly upgraded Tropical Storm Emilia, which was upgraded from a tropical depression Sunday afternoon.

According to the current forecasts, none of these systems will have a direct impact on the islands.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, the forecasters said Tropical Storm Carlotta was 1,900 miles east of Hilo. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and was moving to the west-northwest at 9 miles per hour. It is forecast to become a remnant low by Tuesday before dissipating.

Tropical Storm Daniel was centered 1,705 miles east of Hilo and was moving to the northeast at 9 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour. Daniel is forecast to become a post-tropical remnant low by Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Emilia is in the far eastern North Pacific and was centered 585 miles south-southwest from the southern tip of Baja California. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and was moving toward the south-southwest at 5 miles per hour.

Emilia will be interesting to watch, as forecast models show it interacting with a larger disturbance, currently known as Invest 96E, to the east. The larger system may cause Emilia to dissipate. Another possibility is that Emilia will merge with 96E (which may be a tropical storm with the name Fabio), with the merged system moving westward as a tropical cyclone.

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