(CBN News) – Northern California crews battling the country’s deadliest wildfire in a century were bracing for strong winds, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour, creating the potential to erode gains they have made in containing a disaster that has killed at least 76 and leveled a town. Even as hundreds of searchers sift through the rubble in the town of Paradise looking for the dead, nearly 1,300 people remain unaccounted for more than a week after the fire sparked in Butte County, Sheriff Kory Honea announced Saturday night.
Authorities stressed that the long roster does not mean they believe all those people are missing. Honea pleaded with fire evacuees Saturday to review the list of those reported as unreachable by family and friends and call if they are safe. Deputies have located hundreds of people to date, but the overall number keeps growing because they are adding more names, including those from the disaster’s chaotic early hours, Honea said. READ MORE
This is horrific. I pray that the lost people will be found and that spiritually lost people will find God. During disasters such as this we often realise what is truly important. I pray that God will comfort those who lost someone during this fire and will also heal and comfort those who were traumatised by it all. I cannot imagine how scary it must be to experience something like this. Thank you Lord also for some of the miracles that were reported, a Church standing protected with a group of people hiding there, when all around them the fire destroyed all other buildings. You are good even in the midst of tragedy.