You round the corner, and your house is gone

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Poway:

Richard Ellis, 46, once had a home in Poway. This morning, he discovered he no longer did.

He had thought, after not seeing its status listed anywhere, that there was a 50-50 chance his home was still standing.

‘It’s like a roller coaster: You go up and down, you see some good news and you see some bad news, and you don’t want to get too high up or too low down,’ Ellis said.

After four days of not knowing for sure, he couldn’t take it anymore. This morning he went back to the barricades around his neighborhood. About 8:30 a.m., authorities let people in.

‘You drive up, and a lot of houses are intact, there are a few that are not, but you think, ‘Oh, it’s going to be OK.’ Then you come around the corner,’ Ellis said. ‘I was more upset thinking about it; when you see it, you’re in a different mode.’

‘It could be worse,’ Ellis said. ‘All the cliches and everything, but it’s true. We have insurance, we’re both employed. It’s just stuff -- we’ll rebuild. We’ll get a new house. We’ll rebuild. You’ve got no choice.’

-- Tami Abdollah