Mudslide claims inundate insurers
Calif. official says filings have topped $421 million
LOS ANGELES — More than
$421 million in claims have been filed since deadly mudslides tore through the coastal community of Montecito during extremely heavy January rains, California’s insurance commissioner said Monday.
Insurers have received more than 2,000 claims for residential and commercial losses, commissioner Dave Jones announced. Those include
$388 million for residential personal property, $27.2 million for commercial property and $6.7 million for auto and other lines of insurance.
Recently burned by California’s largest recorded wildfire, the hillsides of Montecito northwest of Los Angeles could not absorb a Jan. 9 storm thatgeneratednearlyaninchofrain in 15 minutes.
“Once the rains hit, the water runs down,beginstotakemudwithit,and before you know it you have a 30- or 35-foot-high wall of mud demolishing Montecito,” Jones said.
Twenty-one people were killed, and two remain missing.
The mudslide insurance claims come on top of California wildfire claims that topped $12 billion in 2017, making it the most expensive series of fires in state history, Jones said.
Thatexceedsthetotalinsurance claims from the 10 most costly previous wildfires in California. Most of last year’s claims were connected to Southern California’s fires in December and October’s devastating blazes in wine countrynorthofsanfrancisco.
Jones said he fears the staggering number of insurance claims represent a “new normal” for California.
“It used to be we could talk about a wildfire season. Now that’s simply not the case. Wildfires are year-round, and Californians need to protect themselves accordingly,” he warned.
In Montecito, 1,415 residences were damaged, and 107 were destroyed. Some were swept completely off their foundations, Jones said. Five commercial properties were demolished, and235otherssuffereddamage, when torrents of water flowed down hills carrying mud, boulders and debris.
Jones recalled the experience of touring the devastation zone as “extraordinarily chilling.”
The commissioner predicted that the $421 million total will climb as additional claims are made and existing ones are adjusted.