Independent American journalist and content creator Nick Sortor took to X on July 29, 2025, and claimed that Oprah Winfrey has kept her “private road” connecting Wailea to Kula in Hawaii, allegedly closed. According to Sortor, locals are thus having a hard time moving to “higher ground” in the wake of a tsunami alert across the island.“BREAKING: Oprah HAS NOT opened her private road from Wailea to Kula, Hawaii, which would allow coastal folks to reach higher ground quickly, locals tell me. OPEN THE ROAD, @OPRAH!” he captioned his post.It was accompanied by a 12-second video seemingly showing the traffic conditions in Hawaii, originally posted by the account @unjected. Sortor claimed that Maui roads were reportedly "gridlocked."“‘I'm stuck with my children in the truck with sirens going off,’ Maui resident Shelby Hosana tells me. ‘If Oprah’s road was open, I could have a way to get out. Instead, we will just hope and pray the first wave time estimates are correct and we still have time to get to higher ground,’” the post read.According to a September 2023 article by Business Insider, Oprah Winfrey reportedly owns approximately 1,000 acres of land across Maui, Hawaii. Meanwhile, according to Khon2.com, locals help her maintain her properties, thus contributing to the growing economy.Nick Sortor’s latest claims remain unverified. However, it is noteworthy that Oprah indeed has a private road leading to her estate in Hawaii, as reported by Khon2.com. In the wake of the current claims against the billionaire magnate, she’s facing online backlash.“Why ON EARTH would you choose not to open your own private road that would allow people to get to higher ground safely? Be a hero (or just a decent human) and open the road @Oprah. Do the right thing,” a netizen wrote.“She's about to really be tested on her character,” another netizen wrote.“Good grief @Oprah Open the damn Road,” a user wrote.Others refused to believe Nick Sortor’s claims and defended the mogul.“This looks to be fake. I hope you’re sued,” another user wrote.“@CommunityNotes it’s open…” an individual claimed.Oprah Winfrey has not addressed the latest controversy at the time of writing.All you need to know about Oprah’s Hawaii estateOprah Winfrey owns real estate across the globe. However, a large part of it is on the Hawaiian island of Maui, which she first purchased in 2003, according to Hawaiian Guide.At the time, she bought 100 acres of land as part of Maui’s upcountry, a region including Mount Haleakalā volcano and away from the coast. Since then, she has bought more than a thousand acres across two towns in Maui, Hāna and Kula, according to KITV4 and Maui Now.Speaking about buying her first property in Kula, she told O Magazine in 2006 that the move was recommended by her property manager and former personal trainer, Bob Greene. Oprah explained at the time that she purchased the land to stop a developer from “building condos.”"The original plan was to do a quick job on the house, then think about building the ultimate Hawaii homestead," Winfrey's decorator Ellie Cullman told the magazine back then.However, when the talk show host liked the original home’s “small scale,” she decided to retain it and instead gave it a renovation. Architectural designer Jeff Wooley, of John B. Murray Architect, altered the floor plan, shifted the staircase, and added a huge veranda so every part of the house would have a view, O Magazine reported at the time.Meanwhile, Oprah confirmed saying she “loves” her house in Maui and called it a “real, normal” home that felt like a “nice blanket.” In 2010, it was reported by Hawaii News Now that Winfrey planned to turn part of the 12-bedroom property into a “high-end bed-and-breakfast” for her friends.The following year, Maui County Council approved her request for a "10-year extension on her permit to operate the vacation rental." Fast forward to late 2021, she bought a 3-acre property in Kula for $7 million and connected it to her original estate.Winfrey's Estate in Maui, Hawaii. - Source: GettyBetween late 2022 and early 2023, she purchased another set of land worth $6.6 million in Kula, spread across a total of 870 acres. Maui Now also reported that in 2005, Winfrey purchased over 200 acres of land in the coastal town of Hāna, on the easternmost tip of Maui.It is noteworthy that all of Oprah’s properties in Maui are owned by her companies, Harpo Inc., OW Ranch LLC, Oprah's Farm LLC, and Yellow Brick Road LLC, according to Maui Now.According to KITV’s report in March 2023, Oprah helped keep the agricultural land in Maui “treasured” and ensured that it remains undeveloped. Additionally, she employed locals to take care of her estate.Oprah faced controversies surrounding her Maui estateOver the years, Winfrey’s Maui estate has been hit by natural disasters, including the 2019 bushfires and the 2023 wildfires. During the former, the multihyphenate opened her private road to help citizens evacuate. She announced the same via a tweet in July 2019 that read:"Access to the road was given to county officials immediately. This was many hours ago. Hoping for the safety of all."In August 2023, she visited shelters across Maui to help with the incoming aid. At the time, she wrote on her website, Oprah Daily, “I'm just trying to provide and be open wherever possible.”Winfrey purchased 870 acres of land in Maui in 2023. (Image via X)Additionally, she joined hands with fellow Hawaiian property owner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and launched People's Fund for Maui, where they donated $5 million each. All proceeds from the fund went to the residents of Lāhainā, the town in Maui that was worst affected.The pair received mixed reactions. Some criticized them for asking the public for donations despite The Rock being worth $270 million and Oprah Winfrey $3 billion, according to Forbes. Others praised their efforts. In September 2023, Winfrey called the backlash “attacks, lies, and conspiracy theories” on CBS Mornings. She had also faced earlier criticism for driving up property prices in Hawaii, along with other billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.In January 2023, the media personality and producer took to her Instagram and promoted Hawaii’s tourism, urging people to “come here” and enjoy the “aloha spirit.”Subsequently, in March 2025, a claim circulated online that the FBI was investigating Oprah for her alleged land grab in the aftermath of the 2023 wildfires. However, the rumor was debunked by various fact-checking websites, including Snopes.According to Nick Sortor’s latest claims, Winfrey has allegedly not opened the road to help locals move to higher ground amid the tsunami alert in Maui. He even shared a map under his original post and wrote in the caption:“Oprah’s paved, private road is marked in blue. It’d bring people straight to sufficient high ground. But instead, they have to take the RED route, which is the ONLY OTHER WAY to higher ground. Mostly because she owns SO MUCH LAND and doesn’t want public roads running through it.”Sortor’s allegations remain unsubstantiated. Notably, Hawaii received a tsunami warning on Tuesday afternoon after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit the far eastern coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.Waves of 0.4 feet to over 5 feet were reported in parts of Hawaii, including flooding in certain areas, as of 10 PM local time. However, no major damage was reported, according to Star Adviser.Dr. Charles “Chip” McCreery, a tsunami expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Director of Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, shared in a press release that the state was past the worst of the tsunami and emergency officials were waiting to lower the warning to an advisory level.