Joe Biden said he will travel to Hawaii “as soon as he can” amid criticism of his response to the islands’ deadly wildfires.
The US president said he had not yet visited the state, the site of the deadliest wildfire in the US in more than a century, because of concerns that doing so would divert resources and attention from the humanitarian response.
The death toll, which is expected to rise considerably, reached 106 today, with 1,300 still missing.
Mr Biden has faced a backlash after saying he had “no comment” on the fires when pressed on the rising death toll of the fires by reporters on Sunday.
The speed of the response to the disaster has been criticised and a $700 emergency payment offered to households as part of the relief effort “insulting”.
“My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can,” Biden said in a speech in Wisconsin yesterday.
“I don’t want to get in the way. I’ve been to too many disaster areas. But I want to go make sure they got everything they need.”
He said that “all available federal assets” in the region would be used for recovery efforts, including the US military and Coast Guard.
“It’s painstaking work. It takes time and it’s nerve wracking,” the president said.
It comes as the first victims from the deadly fires that swept the island of Maui have been identified by officials.
Maui’s police department named Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both from the town of Lahaina, as having died in the disaster.
A mobile morgue unit has arrived to help Hawaii officials working to identify those killed in the wildfires.
The US Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of coroners, pathologists and technicians along with exam tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for response.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned scores more bodies could be found, with just 32 per cent of Lahaina, where nearly every building in the town of 13,000 was destroyed, searched so far.
When asked by reporters if children are among the missing, Mr Green said: “Tragically, yes... when the bodies are smaller, we know it’s a child.”
He described some of the sites being searched as “too much to share or see from just a human perspective”.
Some of the wildfires have still not yet been fully contained. Their cause is under investigation.
The fire that devastated Lahaina has been 85% contained, according to the county. Another blaze known as the Upcountry fire was 60% contained.
Even where the flames have retreated, authorities have warned that toxic by-products may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes. That has left many unable to return home.
