President Biden on Monday toured the scorched remains of Lahaina, a coastal town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, in his first visit since deadly wildfires killed more than 100 people.

Mr. Biden, who broke away from his summer vacation on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, met with survivors of the fires and with emergency workers and state and local officials. The president hugged Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, and walked arm in arm with him to Marine One for a 20-minute aerial tour of the wreckage.

“The devastation is overwhelming,” Mr. Biden said as he stood near a 150-year-old banyan tree, a cherished landmark in Lahaina. He said the tree symbolized the resilience of the Maui community.

The president, who was joined by Jill Biden, the first lady, also sought to assure residents of Maui that they would be involved in the recovery process. “We will be respectful of the sacred grounds and the traditions,” he said.

The president has come under criticism from Republicans for not saying enough publicly in their view about the fires that turned Lahaina into an inferno on Aug. 8. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser warned that “a warm welcome may not be assured for Biden in some circles on Maui” because of frustrations over applying for aid and cultural sensitivities involving Native Hawaiians.

Local congressional leaders have said billions of dollars are needed to help Maui recover.

White House officials have rejected the criticism, saying that the president has kept in close touch with the governor and Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The president’s motorcade on Monday passed by homes that had been consumed by fire, with only twisted metal and debris left behind.

Ms. Criswell told reporters on Monday that the disaster relief agency had distributed more than $8.5 million to Maui, including $3.6 million for direct rental assistance. More than 1,000 federal officials were on the ground, and close to 2,000 victims had been moved into hotel rooms in Maui.

Federal officials had searched about 85 percent of the area affected by the fire for victims, Ms. Criswell said. The remaining portion of the island includes many more buildings with multiple stories, making search and rescue operations difficult. She said officials were estimating that the search could take another two weeks.

FEMA is working on standing up temporary schools in Maui. “Four or five schools have been destroyed as a result of this fire,” Ms. Criswell said.

The agency has encouraged survivors to register with the government to receive assistance, including an immediate payment of $700 to cover food and water. By the end of last week, more than 5,000 people had registered.

But lawmakers, including Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, warned that long-term federal assistance would be needed for Maui’s recovery.

“The people of Maui want to know that everybody has fully internalized what a long road this is going to be — we get it,” he said. “But we want the country to know this isn’t a matter of sending an online contribution and throwing up a hashtag — we’re going to need an enormous amount of resources for the foreseeable future.”

Mr. Biden made the trip after arriving in Lake Tahoe on Friday evening. He is staying on the Nevada side of the lake, at a house owned by Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate investor who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Mr. Biden in 2020. White House officials said the president was renting the house for “fair market value” but did not disclose details.

The Maui wildfires were not the only natural disaster that the White House was monitoring. Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall on the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico and began dumping rain on Southern California on Sunday, just hours after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck northwest of Los Angeles. Mr. Biden spoke on Sunday with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California about the tropical storm, aides said.

Despite Mr. Biden’s pledges, some volunteers and residents in Hawaii dismissed the president’s trip as a public relations ploy.

“They failed us on every level,” said Eddy Garcia, who barely looked up as a trio of military helicopters whirled past the roadside farm where he was handing out papayas, oranges and burritos to people left homeless by the fire. “Their red tape, their bureaucracy.”

Others rushed to get a peek at the president as he visited, including a few dozen who gathered near the small airport in West Maui for his arrival.

“He really needs to look at this rubble and see this was no ordinary fire,” said Pearl Patterson. “So many lives were lost. This is sacred ground.”

Reporting was contributed by Eileen Sullivan from Washington, Emily Cochrane from Nashville, Jack Healy from Lahaina and Tim Arango from West Maui.