Oxnard mobile home park suffers wind damage after weak tornado

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said a weak tornado pushed through Oxnard Thursday afternoon, as a mobile home park sustained wind damage.

Winds in the area around 3:30 p.m. were more than 50 mph, according to the NWS. 

"What we have found is a pattern of damage that is consistent with a weak tornado having occurred in far east Oxnard," NWS meteorologist Ariel Cohen said.

Awnings ripped off some of the Ocean-Aire Mobile Home Estates coaches, and debris scattered about as winds tore through the area.

Residents at the mobile home park said for a few minutes it was scary, and sounded like a tornado.  

Gerry Villegas said her 11-year-old granddaughter was shaking and crying because she had never experienced something like that before.

"The mobile home, it started to shake very strongly, and things, you could see awnings, parts of the porch awning flying by," Villegas said.  

"It was maybe a matter of three, four minutes, and then you look outside and you could just see, how much damage to the surrounding coaches, to the coach that we were in," Villegas said. 

Forecasters had predicted some areas could see gusts up to 70 mph, with the possibility of weak tornadoes occurring during Thursday's storm.  A wind advisory will go into effect at 10 a.m. Friday and remain until 4 a.m. Saturday for parts of Ventura County.

Montebello experienced a tornado on March 22, 2023. NWS teams rated the twister on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, as an EF-1, with some winds reaching up to 110 miles per hour during the three-minute event. In all, 11 buildings were red-tagged due to damage.