31 die in California’s deadliest fire US okays $ 36.5 billion in aids
Santa Rosa, California, Oct. 13: The death toll from raging California wildfires rose to 31 Thursday as body recovery teams used cadaver dogs to locate victims, making it the deadliest series of blazes in the state’s history.
The fires, which began on Sunday, have swept through California’s wine country, leaving thousands of people homeless and burning over 190,000 acres ( 76,000 hectares) of land.
Gusty winds on Thursday were hampering the efforts of the 8,000 firefighters battling 20 blazes, and weather conditions were not forecast to improve.
“What this means is that our fires will continue to burn erratically,” California fire chief Ken Pimlott told a news conference. “They have the potential to shift in any direction at any time.
“We are a long way from being done with this catastrophe,” he said. Washington: The US House of Representatives on Thursday easily approved a $ 36.5 billion disaster relief package for hurricane- affected communities like Puerto Rico, and for areas devastated by wildfires including those in California.
The measure outlining “supplemental” disaster spending passed 353 to 69, with all votes in opposition coming from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party. The bill now heads to the Senate, which could take up the emergency aid as early as next week.
The package includes $ 18.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, $ 16 billion to boost the national flood insurance program and $ 576 million for wildfire response efforts.