Officials said wildfires ravaging California had destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other structures and killed 14 persons by 3 p.m. today, as insurers scrambled to assess the loss.
Early yesterday, when only a fraction of that destruction level was reached, an official state estimate put the insured damage at over $60 million.
“CAT teams are moving in and starting to report,” said Pete Maraga, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California. He said he had not immediate figures noting that the damage was rising, “hour by hour.”
A spokesperson for the California Office of Emergency Services said at 3 p.m. the total number of homes and other structures burned was 1,026 and that 423,370 acres had been consumed by fire.
He said there were 14 fatalities recorded so far and 46 injured.
