Rain Helps Reservoirs, Weakens Freeway : Weather: The weekend storm front left up to three feet of snow in the backcountry. But precipitation fell far short of the amount needed to end the drought, officials say.

The weekend rain raised levels in the county’s two major reservoirs but also undermined the Ventura Freeway north of Ventura, causing Monday evening commuter traffic to back up for miles.

Motorists reported to the California Highway Patrol that the roadway was sinking, prompting officials to close the southbound lanes from Seacliff to Ventura.

“Some of the motorists were complaining about going airborne,” CHP dispatcher Sharon Daniels said.

Bruce Dyar, regional manager of the California Department of Transportation in Ventura County, said Monday that the settling was probably caused by a leak in the pipe that carries runoff from the hills under the freeway and out to sea.

The leak allowed the running water to carry away dirt from under the freeway, he said. The same problem occurred in 1969, he said.

Dyar said the lanes would remain closed until the leak is found and repaired.

“We don’t know how long it will take to find it,” he said. “It’s underground so you can’t see it.”

By Monday evening, Caltrans crews had dug a hole 20 feet deep and 30 feet long in the freeway, but had not found the pipe, he said. After the pipe is found, it will take one to two days to make the repairs and reopen the freeway, he said.

Caltrans crews, which stopped for the night but are scheduled to resume work at 8 a.m. today, will have dry weather to make the repairs throughout the rest of the week and past the weekend, said Terry Schaeffer, National Weather Service meteorologist in Santa Paula.

The area might receive light sprinkles of rain tonight, but the storm front will probably pass over Ventura County and leave most of its rain and snow over the Sierra Nevada to the northeast, Schaeffer said.

“It looks like we’re in a prolonged period of dryness,” he said.

But the weekend rain left the county in good shape, water and weather officials said. The county soils are saturated enough to create runoff and raise reservoir and basin levels. Season rainfall totals rose to above-normal levels for this time of year.

Two to three feet of snow fell in the county’s backcountry mountains, which will add to reservoir and basin levels when the snow melts this spring, water officials said.

But the weekend’s deluge, which left more than 2 1/2 inches of rain in the hills above Ojai and nearly two inches at the County Government Center in Ventura, fell far short of the amount needed to end the drought that has plagued the state since 1986, officials said.

Ventura County still has a deficit of 29 inches from five years of drought, said William Minger, a Ventura County hydrologist. The county must receive another 10 inches of rainfall by the end of March to reach normal levels for the rainy season.

“We still have a long way to go,” he said.

Last weekend’s storms concentrated on Southern California and only contributed slightly to Northern California reservoir levels, said Bob Gomperz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District.

MWD, which supplied 25% of water used in Ventura County last year, depends on water imported from Northern California to fill the demands of 15 million thirsty Southern Californians.

Gomperz said MWD, which supplies Ventura County through the Calleguas Municipal Water District, has no intention of relaxing the mandatory 20% cuts to cities and 50% cuts to agriculture that were imposed last year.

While the weekend rain did little to improve the state picture, local water officials were pleased with its effects in the county. It raised the level of Lake Casitas, which supplies 55,000 people in the Ojai Valley and west Ventura, by 1,175 acre-feet. Lake Piru, a reservoir maintained by the United Water Conservation District, rose 500 acre-feet. An acre-foot is enough to supply a family of four for a year.

The rain also helped raise the levels in the Fillmore, Santa Paula and Montalvo underground basins, said Frederick J. Gientke, general manager at United.

“It will result in a pause in the decline of underground water levels in some areas,” Gientke said. The levels of underground basins, called aquifers, have been declining for decades because of overpumping by cities and growers.

The rainfall also helps the aquifers because it irrigates crops and eliminates the needs for growers to pump water for the next month, Gientke said.

Times correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.

County Rainfall

Here are current rain statistics from the Ventura County Flood Control District.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location since Friday since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 1.18 5.31 4.90 Casitas Dam N/A N/A N/A El Rio 0.91 5.38 5.12 Fillmore 1.19 6.29 6.91 Moorpark 1.20 5.63 5.13 Oak View 2.04 6.48 7.52 Ojai 2.48 8.17 7.14 Upper Ojai 2.56 9.18 7.59 Oxnard 1.53 6.25 4.90 Piru 1.35 6.27 5.81 Port Hueneme 1.46 5.65 4.90 Santa Paula 1.83 8.62 6.25 Simi Valley 1.52 6.21 4.80 Thousand Oaks 1.52 6.54 5.21 Ventura Gov. Center 1.76 5.85 5.44