Thousands of Tourists Stranded at Maui Airport as Wildfires Create Chaos

Some 2,000 tourists were stranded at Maui’s airport early on Wednesday morning amid evacuations due to devastating wildfires.

A Maui County spokesperson said many tourists either missed their flights or had nowhere to go.

Several resorts were being evacuated early Wednesday.

One tourist said they were told to evacuate the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort and were only given “one min[ute]” to gather what they could.

Jack Whitcher, a regular to the island, says the west side of Maui is completely closed off to all non-emergency traffic.

He says thousands of tourists are staying at hotels along Kappnapali and Wailea.

"It is an all-hands-on-deck situation," Mahina Martin, the Chief of Communications and Public Affairs for Maui County, said in an interview on CNN.

Mahina Martin, the Chief of Communications and Public Affairs for Maui County, said, “We are experiencing very extraordinary conditions and very unprecedented.”

She warns that everyone should be prepared to evacuate at any time as the fires have been moving quickly.

Martin added that the fires "are not contained in any fashion."

Some people were forced to flee into the ocean to escape the wildfires in what was described as an "apocalyptic" scenario.

Wildfires started on Tuesday afternoon and were also burning in North Kohala, South Kohala and Kula.  A separate wildfire burned on the big island of Hawaii in the morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.