No, Oprah Winfrey didn’t block access to a road in Hawaii amid tsunami warning evacuations | Oprah Winfrey

Even the threat of a tsunami in which Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, his social media tasks still claimed that Oprah Winfrey immediately rejected the access to a special path that would allow the residents to evacuate.

The warnings followed an earthquake of 8.8 magnitude earthquakes, one of the most powerful earthquakes of the century, a Russian peninsula and produced tsunami warnings and consultants for a large region of the Pacific. The tasks in X and Tiktok claimed that Winfrey refused to open his special way or slowed it down during the evacuation.

However, the highway does not actually belong to Winfrey, and shortly after the tsunami warning was given, efforts to lead to the public began.

Here is a closer look at the facts.

Claim: Winfrey refused to allow the public for the owner of the road and trying to reach a higher place.

Truth: This is wrong. Although it is generally known as “Oprah Road ,, the part of the Kealakapu Road belongs to private property – but not by Winfrey. The road belongs to the Haleakalā Farm, a 30,000 acres of property, which belongs to the Mountry Maui, which has been belonging to the family since the late 1800s. The special road combines a public road with a highway by the island’s ocean.

The representative said that Winfrey was an easement agreement that allows Winfrey to make certain improvements and make certain improvements with the farm. Scott Meidell, the president of Haleakalā Ranch, said Winfrey opened the way as a part of the agreement.

Winfrey’s representative, the decision to open the road to the public is basically depends on the landowner, he said. Meidell said that Haleakalā Ranch had interviews with Ms. Winfrey’s land management personnel in this process.

Meidell said that Haleakalā Ranch with the local fire department and Maui Emergency Management Agency, immediately after 15:00 local time, said that the tsunami warning was contacted shortly after the entry into force. The road was made accessible shortly after 17:00, and the farm staff helped the evacuation of approximately 150 to 200 vehicles until the last automobile group was departed at 19:00.

Maui District officials, shortly after 19:00 on Tuesday after a press release, “Oprah’s Road” could access the public, 9.30 at 9.30, said a repeated consultancy. However, Meidell said that after 19:00, more evacuation was not necessary because the police confirmed that the highway is completely empty than traffic ”.

Maui Police and Maui Emergency Management Agency did not return the requests of the Associated Press immediately.

“When we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted the local law enforcement officers and fema to ensure that the road was opened. The decision to open the road was given quickly when he was warned to evacuate, when he worked with local authorities and Oprah’s farm ”.

The cars were accompanied by separate caravans that each one was “a leading vehicle and sweeping tool to make sure that there was no incident on the mountain road. Meidell said.

Oprah’s Kealakapu Yolu does not own – so why does this wrong claim continue to renew?

Some Hawaii residents have expressed their long -term disappointment with Winfrey’s Maui’s wealthy public figures, such as wealthy public figures, and defended the region against short -term leasing, which has pointed to the region and already worsened the low housing supply.

The islands faced a chronic famine in 2023 when he destroyed most of the deadly forest fire, a town in Maui, and many of the historical former capital of the Hawai Kingdom. More than 100 people died of forest fire.

At that time, social media users claimed that Winfrey hired special firefighters to protect their territory before the fires began, and kept security to keep others away from their land during the evacuation. Some X users also spread false claims that connect Winfrey to the cause of the fire.

Winfrey met with Dwayne Johnson to start the Maui Public Fund and committed $ 10 million to help the inhabitants who lost their homes in forest fires. As of April 2024, the Fund collected almost 60 million dollars.

In 2019, Winfrey, later known as Twitter, confirmed that district officials were allowed to use a special road immediately after a brush fire in the southern region of Maui. Maui District Spokesman Chris Sugidono, said that the road was not used at the end.