Rebuilding after the fires that left some Los Angeles neighborhoods in smoldering ruins over the past week will carry a staggering cost in the billions of dollars, U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday in a briefing with emergency officials.

"It's going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back where it was," Biden said, as California's largest city braced for a return of fierce winds that threaten to fan the flames that have already claimed at least 24 lives.