A man lucky enough to win the historic Powerball jackpot only a few years ago has lost one of his homes in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Edwin Castro hit headlines when he claimed the massive $2 billion Powerball Jackpot after buying a ticket from a local gas station way back in November 2022.
He came forward with the winning lottery ticket February 2023 and his life changed forever with an eye-watering amount of money.
As the largest ever jackpot, Castro received a lump sum of $997.6 million and became an almost billionaire overnight.
As you can imagine, he quickly got to work on investing and spending that money, most notably a bunch of properties.
One of the properties he did buy was a $3.8 million home in Malibu, however, recent photos, obtained by the US Sun show the property burnt down to the ground. All that appears left is smouldering wood and foundations.
A blaze first broke out in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening (January 7), with hurricane-style winds of up to 100mph blowing it through the Pacific Coast to Pasadena.
The two biggest wildfires ravaging the area have killed at least 10 people and burned more than 10,000 homes and other structures to the ground, officials said as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.
Both the number of casualties and homes destroyed is expected to rise as firefighters continue to struggle to get the blaze under control.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said all three of its one million-gallon water tanks that supply fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had run dry by 3am on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden ultimately pledged the federal government would support California’s effort to tackle the inferno with 100 percent of financial support for 180 days.
Biden praised local power companies for turning off the power and applauded the Democrat California governor, Gavin Newsom, for his efforts during the crisis.
He said: “What I know from talking to the governor [is] that there are concerns out there that there’s also been a water shortage.
“The fact is, the utilities understandably shut off power because they’re worried the lines that carry energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires.
“There’s a direct correlation between the utility company and the ability to pump water out of a hydrant. And so it allows for a lot of uninformed people to make assertions or concerns or accusations about the local officials not caring or not working.”
You can support those affected by the fires by donating to the Red Cross online, by calling (800) 733-2767 or texting REDCROSS to 90999.
