TIL Desk/World/California/ The number of people reported missing in California’s deadly wildfires has jumped to 631, as 65 victims are confirmed dead. The revised official list of the 631 individuals whose whereabouts and fate remain unknown is more than double the 297 recorded earlier in the day by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.
“I want you to understand that the chaos we were dealing with was extraordinary,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told journalists as he explained the staggering new figure. Authorities have attributed the high number of fatalities in part to the staggering speed with which the wind-driven flames raced through Paradise, a town of 27,000 residents.
It comes as the White House said Donald Trump will visit California on Saturday and meet people caught up in the disaster. The US president initially blamed the blazes on state officials and threatened to withhold federal payments. Rescue workers have been combing through the charred ruins of the town of Paradise a week after it burned to the ground in the Camp Fire in northern California, the worst in the state’s history.
