An Irish woman living on the Hawaiian island of Maui has said there is a 'mixed bag' of emotion as rescue efforts continue.
Wildfires there have claimed the lives of at least 99 people, as cadaver dogs and dozens of searchers have been sweeping through homes and buildings reduced to ash.
Eileen Gallegos is originally from Co Kildare but has lived on Maui for almost 14 years.
She told Moncrieff herself and her 11-year-old daughter got an alert on their phones telling them to leave the area at 11.30pm.
"You're supposed to have a hurricane kit... where you're supposed to have two weeks supplies," she said.
"How many people actually have that, I'd question it: mine had basics in there.
"That's where you're going to put your passport, your paperwork - it's like a first aid kit and basic things like that".
Soldiers search the remains of burnt-out homes in the aftermath of wildfires in Lahaina, Maui on the island of Hawaii. Picture by: Planetpix / Alamy Stock PhotoMs Gallegos said she had seen flames earlier that same evening.
"We'd seen them earlier on in the day - so we knew there was fire, we'd watched it - but fires happen," she said.
"We get bushfires all the time, we get hurricane alerts all the time.
"This is the first time - I'm here almost 14 years - that something came in.
"We knew it was there, but really didn't think there was any threat or any danger".
'Survival mode'
Ms Gallegos said it's never clear how much time you actually have.
"For me it was just like, 'Grab that bag, grab the passport, a quick change of clothes' - it doesn't matter what it is - and you just go", she said.
"I think you get into a survival mode where you know the priority is to get away from where it is that you are.
"Your mind moves on to something else, on to surviving".
A Maui wildfire out of control in Lahaina on August 9th 2023. Picture by: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoMs Gallegos said she was also trying to comfort her daughter.
"You know what this could be, and you have to reassure them that we're doing this out of an abundance of caution," she said.
"I gave her a job; she had to look after her cat's backpack and her dog.
"But the poor little thing, she was shaking, there's only so much you can tell them.
"They know, they heard it - that alarm going off was loud and she knew that something was up".
"As soon as we opened the front door we could smell [the fire] and we could see it on the road.
"We're on a little hillside, so as soon as we got down to the highway we could see it.
"At that point I could see three fires burning, big orange glows, that's what it looked like".
'We know what's to come'
Ms Gallegos said they went to friends home on the other side of the motorway who hadn't received an evacuation alert.
"We went to a friend's house and two families - myself, my daughter and another family friend from Scotland," she said.
She said there is a mixed bag of emotions on the island.
"There's the guilt - those of us who were just evacuated or those who weren't impacted," she said.
"You want to do so much and then where do you put your resources?
"You also have your own family that you need to take care of.
"There's a level of frustration, there's extreme sadness: we know what's to come.
"There's politics involved in it, there's big government agencies coming in.
"Native Hawaiians are very, very proud so there's really a mixed bag of feelings as to what's going on.
"There is a gloom and that's not normally what it's like here... but there is a very strong sense of community and giving," she added.
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