Millions of Southern Californian residents continue to face dire new wildfire warnings and power outages after fires fanned by harsh winds caused widespread destruction.
More than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed and 25 people killed in total after devastating fires have ravaged Southern California, officials say.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told residents on Tuesday that the community should start to think about rebuilding, although cautioned that the emergency isn’t over yet.
“But while we’re going through what I hope is the final hours of this emergency, it’s also time to begin to talk about our recovery,” Bass said.
Representatives from the country’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offered up to 700 dollars to help cover immediate needs during the evacuation, although added that larger grants weren’t available until insurance companies paid out.
Meanwhile, millions of Southern California residents continued to face dire new wildfire warnings and power outages as fire-fuelling winds blasted across the ravaged landscape.
Much of the area was under an elevated fire risk on Tuesday as a final round of dangerous weather was forecast for the region.
More than 77,000 households were without electricity as utilities cut off power supply to prevent their lines from sparking new blazes.
According to local reports, firefighters were able to make progress after battling two huge Los Angeles area fires and quickly snuffing out several new ones following a reprieve they got from light winds.
Officials have said overall that the wildfires, which started on 7 January, might be the most expensive in US history, with the full-scale of the destruction to homes, businesses and public services still unclear.
Additional sources • AP
