Pair Rescued From Car Stalled in Creek

Firefighters rescued a Ventura woman and her 8-year-old daughter Tuesday night from their flooded rental car, which had stalled in the middle of rain-swollen San Antonio Creek north of Casitas Springs, authorities said.

The unidentified woman had tried to travel across what is usually a dry creek bed on East Old Creek Road, said Capt. Chris Mahon with the Ventura County Fire Department. However, the creek was about 2 1/2 feet deep--and rising--because of Tuesday’s rains.

“We were able to bring our fire engine into the creek bed and make the rescue from the fire engine,” Mahon said. “The car was about half full of water.”

Firefighters were able to pull the girl and her mother to safety through a window of the rental car into the 15-ton fire truck, he said.

The woman was en route to her boyfriend’s house nearby and believed the crossing to be safe to use because no barricades blocked the route, Mahon said.

Barricades were later erected and the road was closed.

“I think it was poor judgment on her part,” Mahon said. “Everything went smoothly but it certainly had the potential to not go that way.”