(Reuters) – 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, 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.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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