By Mark Chediak, John Gittelsohn and Brian K. Sullivan | Bloomberg
The wind-whipped storm that dropped an historic amount of rain on California this week killed several people and has caused as much as $11 billion in damage and economic losses.
A preliminary calculation from Accuweather put the estimated losses at $9 billion to $11 billion after more than 11 inches of rain fell in the mountains west of Los Angeles, making it one of the wettest two-day periods in 147 years, AccuWeather said. One man died after being struck by a tree limb and another was killed when a tree fell on his home, the governor’s office said.
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The storm marked the second strong atmospheric river — long plumes of moisture off the Pacific Ocean — to hit California in a week. A year ago a string of atmospheric rivers killed 22 people and caused as much as $34 billion in damages in the state, according to Accuweather. Scientists predict global warming will make California’s wet and dry seasons more extreme, resulting in more intense deluges and droughts.
An additional 1 to 2 inches of rain may fall in the Los Angeles area and easily push some places over “the tipping point,” causing more landslides as the water lands on saturated soils, said William Churchill, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center.
“We are still concerned,” Churchill said, “but the rainfall itself is starting to wrap up.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday declared a local state of emergency. Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday had declared the same in eight counties. As of 6 p.m. in New York, about 350,000 homes and businesses lacked power in California, according to PowerOutage.us.
“Only leave your house if absolutely necessary,” Bass warned.
Evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Montecito, a tony coastal enclave north of Los Angeles that’s home to celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, where heavy rainfall continued Monday and a mudslide killed 23 people in January 2018.
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More than a dozen roads were ordered closed, including a stretch of Mulholland Drive, celebrated in songs and film noir, according to the Los Angeles County Public Works website.
The rainfall trapped some drivers in their cars and caused landslides that damaged homes and forced evacuations, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two different landslides affected multiple homes in Los Angeles, with firefighters helping people get out safely, the fire department said.
Homeowner, renter and commercial insurance policies typically exclude flood, mudslide, debris flow and other similar disasters, California State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said. They can, however, cover water damage from wind-driven rain that occurs during a storm and damage from fallen trees. Comprehensive vehicle insurance can also cover flood damage and other winter storm damage.
–With assistance from Will Wade, Josh Saul and Tope Alake.
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