Woman Unhurt as Oak Hits Her Bedroom

The storm that drenched Ventura County on Tuesday gave Dorothy Seifts of Thousand Oaks an unexpected wake-up call when a huge oak tree came crashing through her roof.

Seifts, 82, was asleep in her three-bedroom town house in the Westlake section of the city when the aged tree slammed into her home about 5 a.m. Fortunately, a portion of the wall and a metal headboard were enough to prevent the tree from crushing her in bed.

“An inspector told my daughter, ‘If it hadn’t been for that, your mother would have been gone,’ ” Seifts said. “There was no warning at all. It kept falling further into my bedroom.... One of the firemen said I should go out and buy a lottery ticket.”

While some fender benders occurred on county roadways, steady rain caused few other mishaps Tuesday, law enforcement and fire officials said.

The most serious accident occurred during lunchtime in Camarillo, said Capt. Ron Nelson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Just before 12:30 p.m., a dark-colored minivan ran into a Mitsubishi SUV at Lewis Road and Daily Drive, causing the SUV to overturn.

The minivan’s driver fled the scene and was last spotted heading north on Lewis heading toward Somis. The driver of the SUV was taken to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries, Nelson said.

A countywide flash-flood watch was in effect through late Tuesday, especially in areas scorched by previous wildfires, such as Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.

Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said the area could receive up to 2 inches of rain through this afternoon.

Geoff Ware, Thousand Oaks code compliance manager, said the oak tree at Seifts’ house was about 5 feet in diameter at the base and stood in a common area of the North Shore Townhomes community, north of Westlake Lake. He said the city’s arborist said it was between 200 and 300 years old.

“The weather probably contributed to it, that’s a likely guess,” Ware said of the oak’s toppling. The tree was behind Seifts’ unit in a concrete container.

Ware said it’s up to the community’s homeowners association to have the tree removed and begin repairs. The neighborhood’s property manager declined to comment on the accident.

Seifts, speaking from the nearby home of her daughter, said the Fire Department responded within 10 minutes of her son-in-law’s call to 911.

Seifts was able to grab a few important papers, her medications and a custom-made comforter she got from Pennsylvania Dutch country before she had to evacuate. But she said she was worried about some custom-made bedroom furniture that would be exposed to the rain until tarps could be put in place.

“This is so hard. It’s like the bottom has dropped out of my life,” she said. “But I’m well and thankful. I’m grateful, but I wish it had never happened.”