COUNTYWIDE : Rain Also Brought Power Failures

The rain that fell on Ventura County late Monday and early Tuesday failed to bring the season’s rainfall figures up to normal, but it did knock out electricity to nearly 20,000 Southern California Edison customers.

A total of 19,800 residences and businesses had power failures lasting from two minutes or less to about 15 hours, said Mike Montoya, Edison area manager.

Montoya said the power failures--mostly in the central and western parts of the county--were caused by the arcing of electrical currents as dirt and dust that had accumulated on insulators worked their way to the ground.

“It’s similar to a short circuit,” Montoya said. “It invariably happens during the first rain after a long dry spell.”

The Edison official said service was restored to 11,000 customers within two minutes. In most other cases, he said, power was restored in 30 minutes to an hour.

But disruptions that affected about 15 Edison customers in the Leland Street area of Montalvo were not expected to be restored until early Tuesday evening. The power failures began at 3:49 a.m. Tuesday when a power pole caught fire, Montoya said.

The National Weather Service predicted mostly fair weather with mild Santa Ana conditions through Saturday.

Weather Service meteorologist Terry Schaeffer said he is “guardedly optimistic” that more rain will reach the county in the months ahead. The service’s 90-day forecast calls for normal rainfall.

This week’s rains, pushed here by a cold Alaskan front, were the first in the area in about six months. The storm Monday brought 0.57 inches of rain to Camarillo, 0.38 inches to the County Government Center in Ventura, 0.35 inches to Fillmore, 0.40 inches to Moorpark and Ojai, 0.37 inches to Oxnard, 0.52 inches to Santa Paula, 0.44 inches to Simi Valley, 0.57 inches to Thousand Oaks and 0.23 inches to downtown Ventura.

Saticoy, with 0.61 inches, received the most rain in this week’s storm, according to Flood Control District gauges.

The measurements represent the county’s first and only rainfall thus far in the season that began Oct. 1.

In contrast, normal readings to date are 1.64 inches in Camarillo, 1.69 inches at the County Government Center, 2.33 inches in Fillmore, 1.72 inches in Moorpark, 2.18 inches in Ojai, 1.48 inches in Oxnard, 2.05 inches in Santa Paula, 1.56 inches in Simi Valley, 1.68 inches in Thousand Oaks and 1.51 inches in downtown Ventura.

Rain-caused mudslides that closed the northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway near Deer Creek Road were cleared by 10 a.m. Tuesday, said Bruce Dyar, Ventura County regional manager for Caltrans. He said northbound traffic was temporarily detoured over the highway’s single southbound lane.

California 33 north of Ojai was closed briefly Tuesday morning due to a rain-induced rock slide, Dyar said.

Police and sheriff’s deputies said the rain caused no major accidents.