Weather - Page 9

The 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir, which was almost empty when the Palisades Fire struck western Los Angeles in January, must be drained again after new cracks were found in the floating cover.

Survivors of the Eaton Fire in Altadena and Pasadena have organized protests against State Farm, the largest home insurer in the state, for allegedly “lowballing” estimates of damage.

Israel managed to contain one of the largest wildfires in the country’s history this week without losing any structures to the blaze — unlike California, which saw tens of thousands of structures destroyed in January.

Wildfires that began on Wednesday morning and that have burned more than 5,000 acres in Israel have “miraculously” left homes untouched, according to Israeli firefighting authorities.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) joined the battle against a series of wildfires near Jerusalem on Wednesday as high winds drove the blazes toward major roads and population centers, with people forced to evacuate.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is asking the federal government for nearly $40 billion in fire relief — while suing and attacking the Trump administration — and he believes the aid will be without conditions.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) celebrated Wednesday as his state became the world’s fourth-largest economy — albeit one that cannot fix homelessness or protect its citizens from devastating wildfires.

State and local authorities failed to clear the local brush ahead of the devastating Palisades Fire– L.A. is still sending notices to owners of destroyed properties to clear their own.

Survivors of the Eaton Fire, which torched its way through Altadena and parts of Pasadena in January, have called out State Farm for alleged mishandling of insurance claims.

A report from the interim fire chief of Los Angeles says that the city spends more on homelessness than it does on firefighters — and that the homeless start nearly one-third of fires to which the department responds.

A group of a dozen residents of Pacific Palisades and Malibu are suing Los Angeles, and specifically the L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP), for negligence in the recent wildfires that destroyed their homes.

A massive dust storm or “haboob” swept across central and southern Iraq on Tuesday, hospitalizing 3,747 people with breathing difficulties according to Iraqi health officials.

A representative of Hagerty Consulting was stumped last week when asked by leaders within the Pacific Palisades about what his company is actually doing to help the community recover from recent wildfires.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law that will spend $181 million on fire prevention in the state — and $2.8 billion on Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid provider, whose costs have ballooned thanks to his decision to cover illegal aliens.

Steve Soboroff, whom Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass named as “Chief Recovery Officer” after the devastating recent wildfires, left his post on Thursday after being sidelined by the city — and blasted the recovery effort on his way out.

J.J. Redick, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, joined Mayor Karen Bass and property developer Rick Caruso — two political rivals — on Thursday to launch a private-public partnership to rebuild recreation facilities destroyed by fire.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara failed to show up Tuesday at a hearing he himself had demanded into State Farm’s proposed 22% rate hike for home insurance in the wake of the recent wildfires in Los Angeles.

A 16-year-old Missouri firefighter is being mourned by his community after dying while attempting a rescue during the widespread flooding late last week, officials said.

At least 20 people have died as a result of severe flooding and weather across multiple states, including a nine-year-old boy who was swept away by rushing water in Kentucky and a teen firefighter who was killed while responding to an emergency rescue in Missouri.

Los Angeles County has hired a consulting firm associated with anti-Trump retied general Stanley McChrystal to handle public engagement about the rebuilding effort after recent wildfires — rather than simply listening to the public.

Torrential rain and flash flooding combined Saturday to devastate large parts of the South and Midwest already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also delivered deadly tornadoes alongside widespread power outages.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is storing asbestos in Temescal Gateway Park, in the Pacific Palisades, as its contractors remove the carcinogenic material from older homes destroyed in the recent fire.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday that the military government of Myanmar is limiting aid to victims of last week’s devastating earthquake because the victims live in areas held by insurgent forces.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner announced Thursday that his department had waived a key rule that could affect Federal Housing Authority (FHA)-backed loans, to help victims of recent wildfires in Los Angeles.

California’s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains is at 96% of the historical average for April 1st, the official date when the measurement is made, marking the highest 3-year average in the last 25 years, a good sign for water supply.

The official death toll from Friday’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar passed 1,700, but total casualties are probably much higher.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) can claim to have done something to help rebuilding efforts in the Pacific Palisades — finally — after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed to expand debris cleanup.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is pushing a “green” agenda in the effort to rebuild the Pacific Palisades, offering faster permits for those residents who agree to build “all-electric” homes when they rebuild, rather than using natural gas.

A lawsuit filed Monday claims that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is to blame for at least some of the damage in the Palisades Fire due to a power line that allegedly sparked a second blaze during the event.

Members of the Los Angeles City Council voiced their frustrations on Tuesday after learning that the city had only issued four building permits since the Palisades Fire — while paying $10 million to Hagerty Consulting for a “report.”

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has traveled extensively, including to overseas destinations, at taxpayer expense — and not always with a clear work purpose, according to an investigative report by KGO-7.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) told Breitbart News on Thursday that any new fire aid for California should include a “Special Master” to make sure that funding is spent the way that Congress intends.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has received 270,000 applications from purported homeowners in the recent L.A. fires — though only abut 13,000 homes were destroyed.

Conservative radio legend Michael Savage told California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week that President Donald Trump should appoint a “special master” to oversee federal funding for fire relief aid for California due to mismanagement.