Should I stay or should I go?

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Qualcomm Stadium:

Wednesday morning found thousands of evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium unsure if they should remain or venture home.

“Everything is so up in the air,” said Jordan Jones, a 17-year-old high school senior from Rancho Bernardo. Jones and other family members -- father Jeff, mother Sue, and brother Trevor -- slept in a tent in the stadium parking lot Tuesday night after evacuating their home a day earlier.

Jeff Jones tried to call neighbors to see if they had been given the green light to return to their neighborhood. His wife argued that the family should pack up and go home, but he worried that they might get turned back.

After a moment he thought about it and said, “To heck with this place. It’s nice but I want to go home. I want to get back to my life. I want to get back to work. I’m a landscaper, so unfortunately this means I’ll be very busy for a long time.”

Jones made two attempts on Monday to return to his neighborhood, once to save his neighbor’s Boston terrier, named Buttons. When he arrived at his neighbor’s house, all that remained was a red brick pathway leading up to the dwelling. Buttons was nowhere to be found.

“He’s gone,” Jones said.

-- Alex Pham.