Voices and Reactions

“Furniture, clothes, shoes, televisions, my VCR--we lost everything . . . They wouldn’t let us get anything out; they said it was too dangerous. You work for a couple of years and now we don’t have nothing. It’s all gone.”

--Ramiro Ortega, whose Ventura apartment was flattened with a thunderous roar Monday night

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“The whole creek has just blown over the yard.”

--Dan Misiaszek, who figures he has lost $15,000 because of the recent floods

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“We’ve suffered a lot of damage to public facilities, but considering the amount of rainfall, we’ve been very fortunate.”

--County Public Works Director Art Goulet after briefing the Board of Supervisors

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“We truly dodged a bullet on this one.”

--Sheriff Larry Carpenter

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“I’m sure there’s significant damage throughout the Santa Clara Valley for anybody who is along that river.”

--Rex Laird, county Farm Bureau executive director

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“It’s terrible. What are we going to do? I don’t have family here. I don’t know where we will go.”

--Fernando Contreras after Ventura apartment house had fallen

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“I saw a duck floating by my house and a bunch of fruit in the water, and I said, ‘Boy, something’s wrong here.’ ”

--Fillmore resident Joyce Basolo

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“We had a good time. It was like a big slumber party.”

--Ojai resident Kenda Thompson

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“It’s mostly psychological now. You see a cloud in the sky and you start shaking . . . We’ve been very, very lucky. I’ve never seen it like this before.”

--Art Isgur of Ojai

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“We’re still trying to figure out what we’re going to do. I heard the police won’t let anyone up there, so we can’t get any of our stuff. It looks like we’re stuck here for a while.”

--Ruben Echeverria after collapse of Ventura apartment house

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“It came within a few feet of taking the 15th green. That’s never happened before.”

--Golf pro Jim Allen of Ojai’s Soule Park Golf Course

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“If other slides develop, all these buildings could come down.”

--Steve Sutton, Ventura building inspector

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“We just took some clothes and stuff. It’s pretty nice that they let us in.” --Lupe Vega, as she carried a large plastic bag from her damaged apartment