‘You have not suffered trauma like many who come before the criminal court’- Judge Rielly.

Maui County has sued the Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.

Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane.

The August 8 fires killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing, making them the deadliest in the US in more than a century.

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Hawaii Electric said in a statement it is "very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding".

The lawsuit said the destruction could have been avoided and that the utility had a duty "to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment".

The utility knew that high winds "would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation," the lawsuit said.

"Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate."

A drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry.

As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 800 kilometres south of Hawaii, strong winds toppled at least 30 power poles in West Maui.

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Video shot by a Lahaina resident shows a downed power line setting dry grasses alight.

Firefighters initially contained that fire, but then left to attend to other calls, and residents said the fire later reignited and raced toward downtown Lahaina.

With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina's Front Street.

A number of residents jumped into the water off Maui as they tried to escape the flaming debris and overheated black smoke enveloping downtown.

Dozens of searchers in snorkel gear this week have been combing a 6.4-kilometre stretch of water for signs of anyone who might have perished.

Crews are also painstakingly searching for remains among the ashes of destroyed businesses and multistory residential buildings.

For now, the number of confirmed dead stands at 115, a number that the county said is expected to rise.

Maui County on Thursday released eight additional names of people who have been identified, including a family of four whose remains were found in a burned car near their home: seven-year-old Tony Takafua; his mother Salote Tone, 39; and his grandparents Faaoso Tone, 70, and Maluifonua Tone, 73.

The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted for.

The FBI said Tuesday there were 1000 to 1100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.

"Our primary focus in the wake of this unimaginable tragedy has been to do everything we can to support not just the people of Maui, but also Maui County," Hawaiian Electric's statement said.

Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95 per cent of Hawaii's electric customers.

It is also facing several lawsuits from Lahaina residents as well as one from some of its own investors, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit on Thursday, saying it failed to disclose that its wildfire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.

Maui County's lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during bad windstorms and said the "severe and catastrophic losses… could have easily been prevented" if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.

The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.

Other utilities have been found liable for devastating fires recently.

In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.

Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually razed the town of Paradise, California.

The 22-year-old was last seen on Te Horo Beach on August 28 last year.

Target will start selling some of Kmart's Anko brand products from the beginning of next year, the retailer has announced.

Target and Kmart parent company Wesfarmers has revealed the upcoming change in the release of its annual results today.

The results statement says the company plans to "selectively expand distribution of Anko products into new markets globally" and will introduce "select Anko ranges across hard home and general merchandise into Target".

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The range of the Kmart home brand products is aimed to hit Target stores from early 2024.

Wesfarmers' annual results come a month after it was announced that Target operations would merge with Kmart's to create a $10 billion discount giant.

At the time, Kmart Group managing director Ian Bailey said the merger would have "no impacts" on stores, and would purely be a change to operations behind the scenes.

The Kmart Group, which includes Target, recorded a sales growth of 22 per cent in the year to June 30.

Kmart accounted for 79 per cent of the total sales, achieving an annual sales growth of 22 per cent.

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Target's total sales increased 1.1 per cent for the year.

Four Target stores closed in the year to June 30.

In the same year, Kmart closed three stores and opened another four.

An Auckland college took a firm line on what students wore for the mufti fundraiser.

A local surfer tried to fight off a shark for about 30 seconds as he sustained significant injuries to both legs in an attack on the NSW Mid North Coast this morning.

Toby Begg, 44, is believed to have been bitten by 3.8-to-4.2-metre great white shark at Watonga Rocks on Lighthouse Beach, south of Tacking Point in Port Macquarie, about 10am.

He sustained serious injuries from his hip to his calf and lower legs.

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"The reports are that a man has tried to fight this shark for 30 seconds and has then swum himself to shore where he has realised he has sustained significant lower leg injuries," Chief Inspector Martin Burke from NSW Police said.

"From what I understand, it was a sustained and prolonged attack."

Begg sustained life-threatening injuries and was undergoing surgery this afternoon.

Burke said an off-duty emergency doctor was one of the first on the scene and assisted other members of the public to apply a tourniquet to Begg's leg.

"To have the absolute luck of having an emergency department doctor on scene are all going to be key things that are going to lend itself to giving this gentleman the best chance of survival," he said.

Burke said he had spoken to some members of the surfing community, who all understood they were "in nature's playground" when they were in the ocean.

Inspector Joshua Smyth from NSW Ambulance said Begg sustained significant trauma and blood loss.

"The bystanders obviously did a remarkable job on the patient initially and to initially arrest that hemorrhage and call triple zero," Smyth said.

"The crews did a really remarkable job.

"They were on scene quickly, they didn't wait on scene for long and the patient was taken to the best and the most appropriate destination."

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Earlier, a teenage witness told 9News it was "really scary".

"I have never seen anything like it," a teenager told NBN.

"His foot ripped off and basically he was bleeding everywhere," she said.

"They were trying to talk to him, he was silent, he was frozen.

"They tried to tie his leg with the leg rope from the surfboard and some sticks to keep it straight."

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She said she thought the shark was "really big" and potentially four metres long.

The man was transported to Port Macquarie Base Hospital.

A witness told Nine radio station 2GB a group of men were surfing at the beach when a shark attacked them.

The witness said the shark tried to attack again as the group paddled to shore.

Surf lifesaver James Turnham said there were a lot of surfers there at the time.

"The word is that one of the surfers was a doctor," Turnham said.

Port Macquarie Lifeguards said the beach is now closed due to the shark attack.

"The closure will likely remain in place for at least 24 hours," lifeguards said.

"A Surf Life Saving NSW drone will be operating to try to determine the size and species of the shark involved.

"We hope and pray for a good outcome for the victim involved."

Police are working with experts at the NSW Department of Primary Industries after the attack.

The prosecution was the result of an investigation that began in 2020.

Southbound traffic has backed up more than 3km from the bridge to Takapuna.

The website was shut down earlier this year.

Lawyers say Jimel Burns-Wong-Tung not the “cold-blooded killer” of Rangiwhero Ngaronoa.