DEALING WITH THE AFTERMATH OF A DISASTER

Four families whose homes were damaged or destroyed share their stories.

- BY KIMBERLY LANKFORD

Wildfires that tore through the Los Angeles area in January caused as much as $131 billion in losses.

NATURAL disasters in the 12 months that ended in mid January represented the costliest stretch of extreme weather in the U.S. in 90 years, according to AccuWeather. In a span of less than four months, three major weather events hit both sides of the country. Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on September 26, 2024, was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina, causing $78.7 billion in damage, primarily in Florida, Georgia and the mountains of North Carolina—far from the usual path hurricanes take. Hurricane Milton reached land two weeks later, causing $34.3 billion in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And three months after that, wildfires spread through the Los Angeles area, causing as much as $131 billion in losses, according to a forecast from UCLA Anderson.

Here, four families whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by those disasters share their experiences, including the decisions they made as fires or storms approached, how they handled their insurance claims, and their advice to help others prepare for disasters.

DEVASTATED BY WILDFIRES

Rob Seltzer, a certified public accountant in Los Angeles, started the day on January 7, 2025, by getting a haircut and driving to his office. Wildfires had been growing in the distance, and at 11:30 a.m., his wife, Linda, called to let him know their son’s middle school had closed because of the wind. Rob immediately drove home to meet his family and discovered that the fire was heading toward their neighborhood of Sunset Mesa, near the border of Palisades and Malibu.