Wet Weather Blamed for Crashes, 1 Death

An Oxnard man was killed and at least 15 other drivers skidded, slid or slammed into each other Friday morning on Ventura County highways after wet weather created unsafe driving conditions.

Although there was no rain Friday morning, the dampness and puddles led to slippery roads and twice the usual number of accidents, said Officer Dave Webb of the California Highway Patrol.

“We had so many of them, we thought it was raining,” he said.

Joe Edward Padilla, 25, was driving west on 5th Street in a Honda Accord about 8:10 a.m. when he lost control of his vehicle and swerved into the eastbound lane just west of Las Posas Road, Webb said. The car spun to the side and Nancy Nguyen, 40, of Camarillo broad-sided him on the driver’s side, Webb said.

Both were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where Padilla was pronounced dead. He was not wearing his seat belt, police said.

Nguyen was treated for head wounds, bumps, bruises and scrapes, Webb said. St. John’s Regional Medical Center wouldn’t reveal Nguyen’s condition.

Police said witnesses reported seeing a silver or gray four-door Chevy Caprice driving near Padilla’s car. “They kept passing each other and we don’t know if it was road rage or they knew each other,” he said.

It is not known whether Padilla was speeding. “We usually get a lot of accidents during the rain and right after because people think it’s OK to drive normal, but the roads are still slick,” he said. “They need to slow down until its dry and back to normal.”

Weather officials predicted a deluge for today when the biggest storm of the season is expected to hit the coast of California from the early morning until about noon. After that, there should be scattered showers for the rest of the day.

Dennis Tussey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said coastal areas should expect 1 to 2 inches, while the Ventura mountains area could get 2 to 4 inches.

“There is colder air associated with this storm and so snow could come down to 5,000 feet,” he said.

Tussey said the storm is coming from the northern Pacific, off the ocean and should drop its load from San Diego all the way to Northern California.

“We will have a low pressure disturbance moving in a counterclockwise rotation in the upper atmosphere,” he said. “That means there is an uplift and the air gets sucked upward, creating an increase in cloudiness and then rain.”

The National Weather Service has issued a heavy surf advisory, with an 8-foot westerly swell and winds up to 25 knots.

A smaller front is expected in Ventura County on Sunday afternoon. “We’ll have a 24-hour break and then Sunday, moving into Monday, we’ll have maybe half an inch,” he said.

Tussey said there hasn’t been much rain in Ventura County this year.

“This should be the most significant storm--1 to 2 inches is a lot for this area. You can get thunderstorms in the Midwest that are this much in an hour. But for us, this is pretty significant.”