UKUMEHAME — Nakai Ribao gently scattered plumeria flowers into the ocean at Ukumehame Beach Park as hundreds gathered on their surfboards and paddleboards out at sea to grieve, heal, remember and honor victims of the Lahaina wildfire that ravaged the town a month ago.

“We are not from the west side but we were all born and raised here,” said Ribao, who came with her friends and wore red for Lahaina, as did many other participants. “Being local girls we just found it was very important to be part of. We are still so connected as a community to our island and everyone that lives here. So just standing in solidarity with everyone is so important to be there for the community to have local faces represented in a lot of initiatives.”

Ribao called the gathering “incredible” as she and her friends surveyed the crowd out on the water and on the beach, where people of all ages gathered at one of the paddle-out remembrances Friday, with another event ending at sunset in Kihei.

Out on the water, there was a blowing of a conch shell, along with Hawaiian chanting and the singing of the Lahainaluna alma mater. At times people hooted and pounded on their boards or kayaks and splashed water into the air. The Maui Fire Department’s Air One helicopter dropped flowers, circled the paddlers in the water and did a fly-by for those on shore. On land, people cried and hugged, with some shouting “Lahaina” as others scattered flowers, including single red roses, into the water.

On Aug. 8, amid strong winds from a passing hurricane, fire crews battled multiple blazes in the Upcountry, Lahaina and Pulehu areas, forcing widespread evacuations. The fire killed at least 115 people and destroyed about 2,200 structures in Lahaina. It also burned down 19 homes Upcountry. As of Friday, the governor said 66 people were still reported as unaccounted for.

Wailuku resident Diana Warren, who was preparing to paddle out near Ukumehame Friday, called the event “an opportunity to grieve together.”

“It’s a special cultural way to do that, paddle out,” she said as she waited for her husband to join her.

The area is also special to Warren, as it is where she met her husband, who was born and raised on Maui. Years ago, Warren also taught at Sacred Hearts School, which burned in the fire. But next door, the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church still stands.

“We are just so sad,” Warren said of the disaster.

Kula resident Terri Kimmel, who normally surfs in Lahaina but cannot now due to the fire, was at Ukumehame on Friday and decided to stay for the paddle-out.

“I’m glad to be able to come together,” she said as she sat in her truck prior to the paddle-out. “Big things like this are normally not my thing.”

Kimmel works at Kaiser and also helps out at its temporary clinic at the Hyatt Regency Maui. She said the Kula fire was maybe a mile from her home and the wind took down many trees. Fortunately, her home was spared.

“It was scary. … It was probably a mile from my house,” she said. “You could see it really moving fast.”

“But I cannot even imagine having it being on top of you over here. With the wind and everything it must have been super scary,” she said of the deadly fire in Lahaina.

West Maui residents and businesses have spent the past few weeks finding housing, looking for loved ones and seeking federal assistance.

Sne Patel, who heads the LahainaTown Action Committee, said, “Right now, a month into it, people are just looking to see where the aid is.”

“We are feeling that not enough help is coming our way,” Patel said, though he acknowledged that people are doing their best. “The help needs to happen now.”

He said many of the businesses were underinsured for what had happened and that it was “just such a big loss and devastation that the loans are not going to be something that is going to work.” He said grants would help more and could allow a business to restart somewhere else on the island.

“Businesses and individuals are making decisions whether to keep going,” Patel said. “Some may say, ‘you know what? We can’t stay here.’ That is going to be a huge loss of our community. That’s what I fear, a mass exodus of people leaving.”

The Lahaina Town Action Committee has around 110 members, of which 99 percent are businesses in Lahaina town. The committee’s directory helped police track some people down after the fires. Patel said the committee also had inquiries from businesses and owners who wanted to check on safes that had been in their buildings during the fire. But Patel said that the fire was so hot that when some safes were opened, the money had turned to ash.

Patel lives in Kahana, so he was safe from the fires, but the LahainaTown Action Committee office in a business at Wharf Cinema Center was destroyed, and so was his condominium unit and a home he and his family had in Wahikuli. However, he said, “I can’t play the fiddle for me,” as others have lost so much more.

Patel’s two younger sons attended King Kamehameha III Elementary, which was destroyed by the fire. He is now sending them to Maui Preparatory Academy, where his oldest son is a student. He said the rentals that burned down helped pay for his oldest son’s tuition and supplemented the family budget.

Patel said sending his children to Central Maui every day for school and passing by the ruins of Lahaina town was something he did not want to do.

In a message marking one month since the deadly wildfires, Mayor Richard Bissen said Friday that the county is here to support residents, whose “strength and resilience have truly been inspiring.”

He said he and his family are praying for those who have suffered, and he also thanked the first responders and community members who helped others in Kula, Olinda, Kihei and Lahaina.

“We continue to see the best of our people, our friends and family rallying around each other, working together, donating generously and volunteering to help those in need,” he said. “We are Maui people loving and supporting each other. Aloha kekahi i kekahi.”

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com. Staff Writer Matthew Thayer contributed to this report.