I've been to Maui. The rich folks wanted their land and the native Hawaiians wouldn't sell.
They used the hurricane as an excuse to burn those people out of their homes. They said the wind wasn't all that bad, then all of the sudden they heard several explosions and the fires started. Fires have a tendency to cause massive wind drafts.
Where I come from in Montana, a forest fire can cause 80-100 mile an hour winds when they are extremely hot. They set off several Thermite grenades on the Northern end of the town. This mess about energy beams is just a distraction. They fire bombed the town. They sent out arsonists with Thermite grenades to burn down the wooden buildings in Lahaina.
