LAHAINA >> Grief and uncertainty over their futures played across the faces of survivors of the Maui wildfires on Thursday’s six-month mark as Gov. Josh Green, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen and federal officials detailed six months of progress — as well as the hard work that lies ahead.

Lily Nguyen’s cheeks began to twitch and she started to cry as she remembered the three harrowing hours of Aug. 8 trapped in gridlock along historic Front Street as embers rained down on her 2019 Honda CRV.

Nguyen, daughter Tina Ho and an unrelated co-worker named Tan Ho then leaped over the rock wall along Front Street and into the ocean for another five hours as wind-whipped wildfires all but destroyed historic Lahaina, once the seat of government for the kingdom of Hawaii and later a port for whaling ships and then a plantation town.

In addition to her CRV, Nguyen also lost her 2018 Toyota Tacoma truck to the flames, the four-bedroom house she rented and her Lahaina nail salon and Vietnamese restaurant all near Front Street.

Her 21-year-old daughter has since moved to the Bay Area, and Nguyen now lives with a friend in nearby Napili, uncertain what comes next.

She teared up at a supply distribution center in Napili Park and said, “We don’t know what to do or where we’ll end up. It’s just so frustrating.”

Green and Bissen are especially focused on the dual challenges of finding long-term housing and mental health treatment for fire survivors like Nguyen.

Out of Lahaina’s estimated population of 13,000 before the Aug. 8 wildfires, which killed at least 100 people, 9,806 residents were displaced and 3,971 properties were destroyed, most of them homes.

Some 7,796 fire survivors moved into hotels, and Bissen said that all are suffering from trauma or have other mental health needs, while pledging to help each one.

This week, 2,089 families — or 4,984 people — were still living in hotels.

Green expects another 1,000 fire evacuees to move out of their hotels in March and said, “By the time we get to summer, we truly hope no one’s in a hotel” who doesn’t want to be.

Green and Bissen were joined at the University of Hawaii’s Maui College campus in Kahului by officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and Small Business Administration, whose workers have been helping evacuees recover.

“We continue to work closely with FEMA — as well as Maui County and our federal and nonprofit partners — to put Lahaina on a path to recovery while making every effort to preserve its distinct culture and sense of community,” Green said.

The SBA has approved $330 million in business loans and grants.

Excavators and bulldozers continue to clear property and crews conduct air, water and soil samples while being “sensitive to preserving the culture to identify and protect artifacts” under the supervision of cultural monitors, said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Some 96 boats have been removed from the ocean, including a submarine, she said.

“It’s a huge step forward, but we know that we have a long way to go,” Criswell said. “We are here to help you. We want to help you. … This is going to be a long recovery, but we will be with you every step of the way.”

For anyone who has not done so yet, Criswell encouraged everyone to apply for FEMA individual assistance by today’s deadline.

And she urged anyone who was originally turned down to file an appeal, which could only require additional information to be approved.

The EPA has been involved in the removal of 200 tons of hazardous materials — including 30 tons of lithium ion batteries — and continues to work to restore drinking water and wastewater services.

Criswell thanked survivors of the Lahaina and Kula wildfires “who better educated us … and (taught us) how to best support you.”

There’s lots of emotional healing to be done, according to many survivors who marked the six-month mark with tears.

Kim Pali, 54, and her cousin George Pali, 57, were born and raised in Lahaina and lost friends in the fire. George Pali also lost his job when the bakery he worked at burned to the ground.

Asked how he’s doing, he said, “Just party on. Cannot do nothing about what happened.”

“It’s kind of depressing,” Kim Pali said.

Grace Langdon, who turns 22 today, rented a room in a single-family home of nine people that was destroyed, along with losing her job as a server at a Lahaina restaurant that burned.

Asked where she was on Aug. 8, Langdon said, “I was at a friend’s house in Lahaina. I was at ground zero. I didn’t realize how close to the fire I was. I didn’t hear about it. I smelled the smoke and then I saw it.”

She evacuated to a hotel, and on Thursday was getting interviewed for a possible new place to live.

Langdon has no paying job, but volunteers six days a week at the distribution center because it gives her uncertain life a purpose by helping others as manager of the center’s store of donated produce and household items.

The need has not lessened over the past six months.

“Just the other day,” Langdon said, 195 families stopped by to shop for free, donated items.

“This place gives me a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning,” she said. “This to me is the most meaningful job I’ve ever had.”

Langdon spoke of the people coming to the distribution center but easily could have been speaking for herself when she teared up and said, “I think they’ve been in survival mode for so long. I think they’re still processing. Some people are just incredibly depressed. Some are just super angry. … Me? I’m still processing.”

Given survivors’ uncertainty over employment and housing, Langdon said, “there’s a lot more people on the beach in tents or sleeping in their cars.”

Emerson Benner, 24, was eight months pregnant with her first child when the wildfires broke out.

She lost her job as a massage therapist when the business burned. Her sister, Elania Benner, 26, also lost her job as a bartender when the Waikiki Brewing Co. on Front Street was destroyed.

The sisters have since moved into separate, new apartments, and both have new jobs.

Most important, Emerson’s new 5-month-old daughter, Rose, is doing just fine.

The sisters counted their blessings Thursday while sending good thoughts for the others whose lives are still inside out.

“Being empaths,” Elania said, “we feel for all of the people around us.”