California Governor Gavin Newsom is asking Congress for nearly $40 billion in disaster funding to help Los Angeles recover and rebuild areas scorched by last month's devastating wildfires, the Washington Post reported on Friday citing a letter.
"It's going to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to rebuild from the devastating fires in LA," Newsom said in a post on social media platform X that tagged the report.
"I'm asking Congress to have the back of the American people and provide disaster funding to help Californians recover and rebuild as soon as possible," he said, opens new tab, confirming the letter first reported by the Washington Post.
The Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and Altadena on the eastern flank of the metropolis were the sites of the worst of the January blazes. At least 29 people died in the fires that damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
"The total impact on California's economy will take years to fully quantify," Newsom wrote in the letter to congressional leaders according to the newspaper report.
Newsom also said in the letter that California may request more funds in the future, but that the dollars requested "will directly support these communities in both the immediate and long-term recovery work needed to rebuild lives and properties."
The biggest part of the funding request includes $16.8 billion to cover fire response costs, debris removal, and the repair of roads, bridges, public buildings and utilities, according to the report.
Newsom also asked for an additional $9.9 billion to help rebuild housing and infrastructure, the report said.
In a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month, the California Governor urged him to support federal disaster relief for his state.
Private forecaster AccuWeather projects damage and economic losses from the wildfires at more than $250 billion, which would make them the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
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The California Coastal Commission on Thursday voted against a proposal by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to almost double its permitted annual Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, raising the limit from 50 to 95.
A fast-moving wildfire in California has burned more than 33,000 hectares (more than 81,500 acres) across Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment as of Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
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Firefighters are struggling to contain a fast-moving wildfire in central California that has injured three people and is threatening hundreds of homes.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 56 kilometres east of Gorgan in northern Iran early Sunday morning, according to preliminary seismic data.
A deadly heatwave has claimed 1,180 lives in Spain since May, with elderly people most at risk, prompting calls for urgent social support.
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