WAILUKU, >> Forty acres of a Maui encampment have been cleared of hundreds of homeless people.

Up to an estimated 500 people lived in three so-called tent villages on private land behind the Lahaina Aquatic Center, a cemetery and a streambed in Kauaula.

The Maui News reported Wednesday bulldozers and heavy equipment were used to clear the land earlier this week. But most living there had already dispersed when notices were distributed on June 12.

Social service agencies have been stepping in to find shelter for those displaced.

An estimated 1,200 to 1,400 people are homeless on Maui.