Maui search is 25% complete as death toll from wildfires grows to 99

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KAHULUI, Hawaii, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Search teams with cadaver dogs have combed through 25% of the Lahaina disaster zone from the Maui wildfires, discovering the remains of a 99th victim on Monday, but perhaps hundreds more people were unaccounted for nearly a week after the disaster.

Fueled by winds gusting up to 80 mph (128 kph), an inferno burning at temperatures that the governor said reached 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees C) raced from the dry grasslands outside town into the historic resort town of Lahaina last Tuesday, turning block after block into ash.

The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years destroyed or damaged more than 2,200 buildings, 86% of them residential, causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage.

Recognizing the anxiety of survivors still looking for their loved ones, Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier told a news conference that local, state and federal rescue workers were proceeding as fast as possible but that there was a "reverence" that encumbered the task.

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