California assesses damage from storms

Coastal California is assessing the damage caused by last week's combination of record high tides and successive Pacific storm systems, writes Monitor correspondent Leon Lindsay.

The totals as of Sunday: at least 35 beach front homes destroyed, more than 3 ,500 residences and 530 businesses damaged, 12 storm-related fatalities, and some 2,000 people at least temporarily displaced. Preliminary damage estimates range from $70 million to $100 million. Three or four less severe storms were expected to hit the coast starting Sunday.