‘Not a Drought-Breaker’ : Weather: A forecaster warns that the storm, which is expected to leave about a half-inch of rain countywide, is a mere drop in the bucket.

The heaviest rainfall of the season doused Ventura County on Thursday, delivering a brief respite to drought-stricken farmland and luring some adventurous souls out to sample the rare wet stuff.

The gentle storm broke over the county early Thursday morning and drenched some areas with as much as two inches of rain. Average rainfall countywide was expected to be about half an inch by the time the storm ends late today, said Terry Schaeffer, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Santa Paula.

Some farmers happily turned off their irrigation systems and let Mother Nature do their watering. But Schaeffer warned that “this storm’s definitely not a drought-breaker.”

By late Thursday afternoon, Ventura County Flood Control District gauges measured nearly two inches of rain in the ridges above Ojai. In Ventura, the County Government Center was splashed with only .18 of an inch.

The storm is expected to taper off late today, with sunny skies forecast for Saturday, Schaeffer said.

Authorities reported few problems stemming from the light rain. In Ojai, ditches were swollen with mud and runoff, but the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department reported that roads there were free of major accidents.

Wind and rain caused about a half-dozen scattered power outages around the county, said Mark Olson, area manager for Southern California Edison Co.

Most of the outages were small and of limited duration. But Olson said the largest blackout left more than 2,300 Ventura customers in the dark for nearly two hours in a 20-square-block area off Main Street and Callens Road. Utility workers in yellow slickers labored into the evening to repair a burned power line on San Nicholas Street, after the top four feet of the pole supporting it caught fire.

Along the coast, Ventura County receives an average of about 13 inches a year. But since the rainy season began Oct. 1, the county has had only four days of rain and received only 9.8% of the normal amount, said senior county hydrologist Dolores Taylor.

“That’s terrible,” Taylor said. “It’s worse than where we were last year. We were at 15% of normal last year, so it hasn’t been very good.”

To make up for the past four years of below-normal rainfall, Taylor said, the county would need at least 45 inches of rainfall.

Rainfall from the current storm will not be “anywhere near what these plants need,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “It’s like trying to throw $10,000 into the savings and loan crisis and expecting it to do something. In relationship to the magnitude of the problem, it’s not significant.”

Despite wet, cold conditions, dozens of beach-goers braved the storm. Most stuck to walking and bicycling in the drizzle, but a band of surfers took advantage of five-foot-high waves at Surfers Point in Ventura.

Robert Perdue, an Ojai handyman who has been riding the waves for 32 years, said he drove to the beach instead of spending the day at work.

“What’s the difference between surfing in the rain and not surfing in the rain?” Perdue said. “You still get wet.”

A San Fernando Valley couple strolled two miles near the Ventura Pier in the rain. “I’m from London, where nothing stops in the rain,” said Caroline Lang of Tarzana as she walked with Larry Shrednick of Agoura. “I’ve got my thermal underwear on.”

For some, the rain was bad news. One homeless man took shelter under the Ventura Pier, protected only by a trench coat and the warmth of a stray dog he had just adopted.

“It’s rough out here,” said John Thomas, 27, as he petted his new pet. “I’ve just been trying to stay out of the weather.”

VENTURA CO. RAINFALL

Average for 10 cities since Oct. 1; in inches

Nov. 20: .39

Nov. 26: .05

Dec. 12: .01

Dec. 13: .04

Source: Ventura County Flood Control District