Los Angeles wildfire evacuees face price gouging after officials warn of predatory businesses, landlords

Days after an inferno razed the Pacific Palisades, Maya Lieberman is desperate to find somewhere to live. But unscrupulous landlords who are jacking up prices are making it hard.

"The price gouging is going haywire, it's obscene," the 50-year-old stylist told AFP. "I can't find anywhere for us to go."

Huge fires that have torn through Los Angeles since Tuesday have leveled whole neighborhoods, turning swaths of the city to ash. More than 105,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes, while another 87,000 are under additional evacuation warnings, as authorities try to keep down a death toll that has already reached 16. On Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said law enforcement has also received 16 reports of missing people since the fires erupted last week, adding that he expects the number to rise.