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A young couple who were looking forward to a Memorial Weekend of BBQs, birthdays and beach time have instead spent ”three days in hell” after being evacuated for their Garden Grove home – and left them suffering crippling symptoms
Miguel Loo, who turned 31 Sunday, and his wife-to-be Brittany Guibert were shocked to be told on Friday that they’d have to leave their mobile home, which is just a mile and a half from the GKN Aerospace chemical plant.
Guibert packed up her mom, who lives with the couple, and their Frenchie Pug ”Wednesday” – and began to feel the effects of the chemicals.
“We started to feel horrible headaches right away,” Loo, who is a bartender in Newport Beach, said.
With few options to sleep, the trio and their pooched headed to the Liberty Hall shelter in Fountain Valley, which is being run by the Red Cross.
They arrived about midnight to find food and water available, but no beds.
“There were so many people”, said Guibert.
The tall couple, Loo is 6 ‘3, had no choice but to sleep in his “very small” Honda.
“Even if I would have been able to get a bed I don’t think I’d have been able to sleep, all you could hear were kids crying and people snoring,” Loo said.
He described a horrific scene at 4am scene of people sleeping outside the shelter on the grass, or in in tents, with coyotes roaming the area.
Inside, the beds were packed closely together and all the portable bathrooms were set up outdoors.
After just a couple hours of restless sleep, all three woke up to continuing “throbbing headaches”, but headed back to their home to grab some essentials, including medication for Guibert’s mother, who suffers from several ailments.
The couple was also worried about being robbed after they heard looters had been roaming the evacuated neighborhoods.
They secured the home and grabbed “important documents.”
Loo said the headaches got worse after going back.
Later that day the evacuees decided to find a hotel room, not an easy task given the skyrocketing cost due to 50,000 people without a place to sleep.
After hours of searching online they found the last room in an economy hotel about a mile and a half from the evacuation zone.
“It cost over $700 for two nights, and that’s with the AAA discount,” Loo said.
Still, the couple was grateful and said they were lucky to have a place to go despite having to dip into their wedding fund to make it happen.
“We were hoping for a small Cancun destination wedding, but now we’re not sure,” said Guibert.
Even more troubling for the couple is what the future holds. They have no idea when they can return to their home and can’t afford to stay in a hotel any longer. “We’re just taking it day by day,” Loo said.
His 31st birthday came and went with a “brutal headache” and without the BBQ that his fiance had planned for him, the family, and Wednesday.
Loo took it in stride. “Not the worst, not the best, but we’re ok,” he said as he got the dog ready for a long needed walk
Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit seeking accountability has been filed against GKN Aerospace.
The X-Law Group P.C. and Presidio Law Firm filed the lawsuit over the weekend on behalf of Garden Grove residents that claims the firm failed to properly protect the community from the hazardous material.
Stephanie Klopfenstein, the mayor of Garden Grove, warned homeowners who have remained that it was a “very dangerous situation” and they should flee now.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency last week after the danger area ballooned into nearly 10 square miles across Garden Grove, Anaheim, Stanton, Cypress, Buena Park and Westminster — uprooting as many as 50,000 people
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