CA Storm Damage Total Could Reach $11B

The wind-whipped storm that dropped an historic amount of rain on California this week has caused as much as $11 billion in damage and economic losses as well as costing lives, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

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, for 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.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency, a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an emergency in eight Southern California counties. The governor on Tuesday sent 120 additional California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland and the East Bay to combat crime.

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.