Camarillo Springs: Cleanup underway after brief evacuation
CAMARILLO SPRINGS, Calif. (KABC) -- The wet weather caused a scare for Camarillo Springs residents after heavy rain pelted the area overnight, triggering a mandatory evacuation for several hours.
More than 100 homes were included in the evacuation order, which was issued at around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday and lifted around 3:15 a.m. The evacuation was put in to place just as the heaviest band of rain moved over Ventura County.
Residents were worried they would see damage similar to what they experienced during the storm last week, when heavy downpours caused destructive mud and debris slides.
VIDEO: Rocks, mud surround Camarillo Springs homes
Some residents are still not able to go back into their homes. The Conejo Mountain Funeral Home and Memorial Park had several inches of mud after last week's powerful storm. Area resident Jay Bea Summerfield said there was so much mud that her stepson could not locate her husband's grave.
"They saw the mud everywhere, and they went to where my husband's grave is, and they couldn't see it. They couldn't locate it. Everything was covered in about one to two feet of mud," Summerfield said, noting that more than 3,000 grave markers appeared damaged.
Cemetery officials said they are making progress with the cleanup, but it's a slow process.
"They do have a daunting task, and of course it would be impossible for them to contact the 3,000 families, and I do understand that. It was just really upsetting, especially this time of the year," Summerfield said.
Residents did not take any chances with the latest bout of rain. They put up reinforcements and piled sand bags around their homes to ward off any mud flow. Crews lined the streets and mountain sides with K-rails, trying to divert mud and any rocks from tumbling down the hillsides left barren by the Springs Fire.
Crews also tried to level the landscape behind homes to stop the debris flow from coming down into the streets during future rain events.
Fortunately for residents, the brunt of the storm passed through the area without much movement in the hillsides this time around.
