Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Fire Update

Things have continued to get even worse for the San Diego community. This is becoming a Katrina type of disaster in scope and magnitude. As of 4:00 pm Tuesday, over 550,000 thousand people have been displaced. My step father's family all live in the San Diego area. Their story is typical of many of our residents. First, Great Grandma Lees got a call to evacuate her home in Rancho Bernardo on Sunday evening. She fled to my uncle's house who live in Poway. Early Monday morning they had to evacuate Poway. Now two families where on the move to a second uncle's home in Encinitas. Then yesterday afternoon they had to evacuate Encinitas. Thankfully, the Santa Ana winds that have fueled these fires are forecast to die down tomorrow afternoon.

The San Diego community has rallied around the needs of so many displaced people. Almost everyone who has not been evacuated has someone displaced staying with them. Most churches have organized the home placements because the shelters are full and there are no hotels for hundreds of miles. A group of folks from my Monday night Bible study went down to the local Red Cross this morning and went through the volunteer training. They were each deployed to these maxed out shelters. All of the National News broadcasts were here this morning and evening. The constant smoke in air reminds you of how heavy the situation is.

1 comment:

Robin said...

Michelle..........Michelle.........It's me, Robin, Peeler, old friend. Are you guys ok. I found your blog and it appears you are in San Diego, hope you are safe. I remember the terror of fires so close to home when I lived out there. You are in my prayers. Please give me a call when you get a chance. I miss you, and love all of you dearly.