More than 500,000 Found Homeless or Worse

Today, by late afternoon, an AP update regarding SoCal's apparently unstoppable wildfires reports that more than 500,000 people are temporarily homeless or worse from north of Los Angeles, through San Diego to the Mexican border. They have been ordered to immediately evacuate by authorities. It is the biggest evacuation in California history. Today is the third day of wildfires raging across the state that firefighters concede there is no end in sight short of stopping at the ocean. More than 1,800 homes have been destroyed. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the flames were threatening 68,000 more homes. In San Diego, evacuees are at Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. At the moment, nearly 20,000 displaced homeowners are huddled inside the stadium, according to reports. The fires are the worst in California since 2003, when 22 people were killed and 3,000 homes were destroyed. One evacuee sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot with her 10 year old daughter said, "No one ever expects something like this to happen to them."