Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:53 am Reply with quote
fantastic news from my niece in California.... thought I'd share her news. She lives in the Lake Hodges neighborhood.
"Our house is not only standing unscathed, but with very little smoke and ash. We were allowed to re-enter on Friday afternoon and I was astonished at both the destruction and at the amount of homes that were saved. I can hardly imagine what an inferno that valley must have been [thru]. The mountains are scorched with only skeletons of plant-life left behind. There are homes where all landscape is blackened with a circle of ash below and yet the homes are left standing, barely touched by the fire. And then, only a block away from my perfectly-in-tact home are homes that burned to the ground with only brick and concrete to show for their existence. The land around the lake is as black as the hillsides in some areas and in others, untouched like my house. It is truly amazing, the contrast is mind-boggling and I know I am extremely fortunate. [We] will return home in the next couple of days. There is a boil water order in [place, and we'll have to wait for that to clear] but we may return home sooner to get things in order and return to "normal" life.
It is hard to believe that a week has gone by since we laid awake, listening to the howling Santa Ana winds that whipped-up such a fierce storm that wreaked so much havoc in the entire county's everyday lives, and for some so much more than that."
I hope they never have a fire like that in California - or elsewhere - ever again.
