A Camarillo man whose dog survived a mudslide recounted the moments when he realized his home was soaked with mud and watched the waters carry his wife out to the driveway,
Henry Needham, an 83-year-old retiree, lives in the Camarillo Springs home off Como Lane with his wife and pet Dachshund named Tinkerbell. They went to bed around 11 p.m. Friday night when they heard what Needham called a "rumble and roar."
He headed out to the living room and realized he was standing in water before turning on the lights and saw mud soaked through the carpet.
Needham glanced back, he said, and saw his wife standing up before the mudflow took her outside.
"She was literally carried out all the way to the end of the driveway with mud, rocks, everything else," Needham said. "The chair that I sit in to watch television in the living room wound up sitting in the driveway upright."
Needham and his wife were OK, but Tinkerbell was nowhere to be seen.
But that changed over the weekend when a neighbor spotted the dog through a window in the house and saw her barking. Tinkerbell was pulled out covered in mud.
"She's just a wonderful joy," Needham said. "I'm glad to have her back."
The pooch is now cleaned up and healthy, but the community is still reeling from the mudflow and working to mop up the mess -- and figuring out who will pay for the damage.
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"(Homeowner's insurance) told me it's on my back, so it's on my back, and that's the way it is," Needham said, adding that the company told him his policy will likely not cover that kind of damage.
He's not alone.
"None of us have flood insurance here," neighbor Robbie Dornick said. "The drains have been kept clear. It was the debris from the rain ... It was too much, too fast."
