Flash Flood — Ventura, California

2010-01-20 · near Newbury Park, Ventura, California

Event narrative

A Ventura county man drowned in the Wildwood Park area of Thousand Oaks. The individual was hiking in the park to observe the local creeks that were flooded due to the heavy rainfall. The individual fell into one of the creeks and drowned.

Wider weather episode

A series of powerful winter storms affected Central and Southern California between the 18th and 22nd of January. As this series of storms moved across the area, they brought heavy rain, flash flooding, gusty winds, heavy snow and even severe weather to the area. By the 22nd, rainfall totals for this series of storms ranged from 4-8 inches over coastal areas to 8-16 inches in the foothills and mountains. Due to some very intense periods of rainfall, flash flooding and mud and debris flows occurred across the area. In the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, 1 to 3 feet of new snowfall was reported. Strong southerly winds were common as each storm moved across the area with wind gusts as high as 71 MPH reported in some spots. Along with the rain and snow, some severe weather occurred across the area with reports of waterspouts, straight-line winds and even a weak tornado in the city of Ventura.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.2309, -118.9047)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 241186. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.