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Terrifying video shows desperate Maui residents fleeing into the treacherous ocean in an attempt to escape the wildfires that have devastated the area and killed at least 55 people this week.

In the clip shared on TikTok by the account @chefjoshuamarten, multiple groups – including families with what appear to be small children – can be seen scaling the rocks into the rough surf off Lahaina while ash and smoke rains down and the flames close in.

Many of the panicked escapees are wearing backpacks, and some are clinging to planks that appear to be wood and other objects in order to stay afloat.

The harrowing footage – which has been viewed over 2 million times in just 10 hours – is among the latest to emerge of the vicious flames that, as of early Friday, have killed at least 55 people and decimated a historic town.

“We’ve seen devastation, destruction, immeasurable loss,” Maui’s Mayor Richard Bissen told the TODAY Show Friday morning, while rescue workers continued to comb the ruins for possible survivors.

“I think [the number of the dead] could go up,” he admitted, noting that the current death toll only accounts for those located outside of buildings.

What we know about the Maui wildfires

At least 114 people have died in the Maui wildfires that started last Tuesday.

The wildfires, fanned by strong winds, burned multiple buildings, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora was partly to blame for the strong winds that knocked out power as night came. About 13,000 residents in Maui were without power, according to reports.

People rushed into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames fanned by Hurricane Dora.

Fire crews battled multiple fires in the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland mountainous region. Firefighters struggled to reach some areas that were cut off by downed trees and power lines.

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Authorities are waiting for FEMA to continue scouring the inside of burned-out structures, he said.

Nearly 11,000 people are now also without power, water, and communication services.

When asked about recent claims that residents were not alerted with warning sirens before the flames closed in, Blissen declined to comment.

“I think this was an impossible situation,” he said.

“The winds that hit us on that [wester] side of the island … in some areas gusts were up to 80 miles per hour…so everything happened so quickly.”

Some homes were evacuated earlier in the week due to a smaller fire, he claimed.

Earlier this week, Lahaina resident Cole Millington told CNN that he did not receive any warning about the fire until he saw a “huge plume of black smoke” on his street.

“Within 15 minutes of talking about that and seeing the smoke, we were running down into our cars, anything we can grab — go bags — mostly nothing,” he added. 

“I got my passport and my dog and my truck, and we were peeling out of the driveway.”

Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman, said he did not realize the risk until he smelled smoke.

He tried to escape in his Jeep before being forced to seek shelter behind a seawall while ash and cinders blew over him, he recalled.

Other frantic survivors recounted scrambling over dead bodies and navigating a maze of burning buildings as the oceanside paradise descended into “hell.”

“I saw a couple people just running, I heard screams out of hell … explosions. It felt like we were in hell, it really was,” one man, who asked not to be named, told KHON2. “It was just indescribable.”

“We’ve still got dead bodies floating on the seawall,” another Lahaina resident told Hawaii News Now. “They’ve been sitting there since last night.”

On Thursday, the Coast Guard said it eventually helped rescue and relocate more than 50 people who were found clinging to jetties in the ocean to avoid the fire.

Boat captain Christina Lovitt told CNN that she saw “waves on fire” as boats in the marinas started catching fire and even exploding.

Lovitt, Lashawna Garnier and Lovitt’s wife, Emma Nelson were able to rescue two kids, ages 5 and 6, from the water.

“To see this beautiful thing I’ve spent my life on just disappear — it was just the most tragic thing,” Lovitt said of her boat, which she also lost in the flames.

“But we were able to save those kids.”

Even the survivors, however, are now left to cope with the loss of their homes, businesses, and more.

“I own nothing. I have the clothes on my back and my car and that is it,” Phena Davis told KITV 4.

“There is no Lahaina left. There’s no Lahaina Harbor, no Mala Wharf. Every restaurant is burned.”

The wildfires – which were about 80% contained on Thursday night – are the state’s deadliest natural disaster since 61 people perished in a tsunami in 1960.

The blaze is also the deadliest US wildfire since the 2018 Paradise blaze in California killed at least 85.

With Post wires

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