CHICO, Calif. (AP) — Fire refugee Anna Goodnight sat on an overturned shopping cart Thursday in a Walmart parking lot as she ate scrambled eggs and tater tots while her husband drank a Budweiser.
The couple was trying to put a good face on a weeklong ordeal that left them uncertain of the fate of their home and now had them camping next to the store with hundreds of others forced to flee from a deadly Northern California wildfire . But William Goodnight finally lost it and began to cry.
“We’re grateful. We’re better off than some. I’ve been holding it together for her,” he said, gesturing toward his wife. “I’m just breaking down finally.”
With the Goodnights’ hometown of Paradise destroyed, thousands of homes gone and untold neighbors dead, uncertainty hangs over survivors like smoke still clouding the sky over Chico. For those who have turned a grassy lot next to the Walmart into an informal campground, the anxiety of what lies ahead is even greater.
They have no roof overhead — just a filament of nylon that provides privacy but little security. It’s chilly at night and they wonder what will happen if it rains and where they’ll go if the camp closes Sunday, as planned.
https://www.apnews.com/751ea83a0e454...m=APWestRegion
Most shelters are full and have an outbreak of a virus. A lot of them can't afford to keep paying for motel rooms without a job. California doesn't seem to be helping at all.
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Originally Posted by Lummy
