One home is saved, the other is lost

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Rancho Bernardo:

Debby Stout, 47, and her son Steve Stout Jr., 24, found out from a television broadcast Monday that their house on Cabela Drive in the Westwood section of Rancho Bernardo had been lost.

“Our address came up on the news on the little ticker at the bottom, like a sports story. It was like Bam!” Steve Stout said.

They were at the service center Wednesday seeking FEMA cash assistance.

Newlyweds Tim Anderson, 27, a Marine stationed at Miramar Air base, and Jessica, 25, a Palomar College student, arrived at the center not knowing the fate of their first home together, an apartment in a complex called La Terraza, also in Westwood.

Finally reaching the front of a long line, they were told their apartment unit was not on the list of burned homes. “It looks like some of your neighbors took it pretty hard,” the clerk said.

Tim smiled. “Our building is not on the list, but the building next to us burned down or has damage. It could be the one our garage is in,” he said. But he sounded like he didn’t quite believe the report. The home survived “according to their list. According to their list,” he kept repeating.

-- Tami Abdollah