Ventura County residents are drying out and cleaning up after the mess left behind by Tropical storm Hilary. The rain may be over, but the storm runoff continues in some areas, forcing residents to evacuate their homes.
“It’s a mess!” said Todd Daley, a resident who experienced a massive mudflow moving through his yard during the Hurricane. “Rocks and bits of pipe, and fencing and you name it, coming down from the 50 acre watershed above.”
Earlier this year, a 50-foot storm pipe shattered above Daley’s home in Camarillo, and Hurricane Hilary brought down more of the hillside.
“We knew it was coming, so we put in about 140 extra sandbags knowing it was coming,” Daley said. “The fire department then probably doubled that. They came out all day yesterday periodically checking on us.”
Late yesterday afternoon, the hillside was so unstable and the mudflow was so strong that some residents had to evacuate.
“The firemen came through and because it was raining so hard about 5 o’clock, they ordered an evacuation,” said Carol Fehr, another resident.
Yesterday tropical storm Hilary dumped several inches of rain in Ventura County, resulting in mud and water rushing onto the streets and submerging vehicles. While many residents were allowed to return home late last night, some returned to a lot of storm damage.
“We’ll call the bulldozers guys with their bobcats and they’ll come in and take loads of it away and hopefully get it repaired,” Daley said.
