Mud overflow prompts rescue, evacuations in Camarillo Springs

Heavy rains in Ventura County clogged drainage areas and caused mud and debris to flood homes in Camarillo Springs Friday night, forcing evacuations, fire officials said. 

Ventura County captain Mike Lindbery said fire officials received a call about a home flooding at 10:30 Friday night, about an hour after a heavy downpour pummeled the area. 

Shortly after, the person who initially contact the department called back to say "my house has filled with mud and I can't find my husband," Lindbery said. "So we upgraded to a technical rescue response."

Firefighters waded through 18 to 20 inches of mud to get the front of the home.

"We ended with one man who was buried up to his waist in mud just inside the front door of his house," Lindbery said. "We were able to cut the front door with a chainsaw, get him dug out and get him, and he's safe."

The family's  dachshund hasn't been seen since the flooding and may have been killed, Lindbery said.

Lindbery said fire crews and sheriff's deputies evacuated nearby homes as a precaution. Later, they determined the source of the flow was that a major drain in the area had been blocked, not a mudslide off a nearby hill, as was originally feared. Residents were allowed back into their homes.

In all, 11 homes were evacuated. Two were seriously damaged. The how where the rescue took place has been red-tagged, Lindbery said. "It's going to need a substantial bit of work."

San Como Lane in Camarillo Springs is still covered with "quite a bit of mud and debris," Lindbery said. 

The National Weather Service said the Los Angeles region got a little more rain than expected last night because the front of the storm held together better than forecasters thought it would. 

Most areas received between a 1/3 to 1/2-inch of rain and some areas got more than an inch.

"We'll see that kind of off and on again rain through the rest of the morning but that should start to taper off in the afternoon, except up in the mountains and San Gabriel range," said Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service. "They should be seeing showers for most of the day even into the evening time." 

He said temperatures will stay cool heading into Sunday but should be back to the 80s, possibly 90s by mid-week.