Reservoir Hits 7-Year High; More Rain Due : Weather: Officials expect another strong storm early Saturday. Ground-water levels are predicted to improve.

As Ventura County meteorologists predicted another “real doozy” of a storm for this weekend, water officials say the county’s largest reservoir has risen to its highest level in seven years.

Lake Casitas, a source of drinking water for much of the west county, is at 81% of capacity for the first time since 1986.

Officials at the Casitas Municipal Water District predict that the lake will become full--and possibly spill over its dam--by the end of the rainy season.

The lake--which holds 254,000 acre-feet of water--was only half full two years ago.

“The lake is finally filling,” said John Johnson, general manager of the Casitas district. “If it keeps on raining, I’m sure we will gain 14,000 acre-feet this month alone.”

The level at Lake Piru, a reservoir a third the size of Lake Casitas, has risen more than five feet to 70% of capacity since the storms began pounding the county Dec. 27, officials said. During the heavy rains last year, the lake filled to capacity and water flowed over the dam into Piru Creek.

“We are storing all the water we can, and we are becoming quite optimistic that it will fill very soon,” said Frederick J. Gientke, general manager of United Water Conservation District.

The county’s third reservoir, tiny Matilija Lake near Ojai, has been spilling over its dam into the Ventura River at a rate of 1,500 cubic-feet of water per second for about a week, officials said.

Meanwhile, the county’s ground-water levels--which reached record lows during the worst of the drought in 1991--are also expected to rise. Gientke said water district workers plan to measure underground water this month.

Gientke said he believes that the intrusion of seawater into the county’s water table may have subsided, although he said it will be several months before officials know just how much.

“We have definitely come around the bend on this drought,” he said. “We’re quite delighted.”

For this rainy season, which started Oct. 1, rainfall totals throughout the county ranged from 9.25 inches in Port Hueneme to 18.24 inches in Upper Ojai, according to officials of the Ventura County Flood Control District.

Since Wednesday, Upper Ojai has received more than 3 inches of rain.

So far, the county’s rainfall totals have exceeded normal year-to-date averages by 189%, officials said.

“That’s a heck of a lot of water and that’s not the end of it,” said Hassan Kasraie, the district’s flood-control manager.

Although Ventura County got a reprieve from the battering Thursday, meteorologists warned that another strong onslaught was on its way.

Meteorologist Terry Schaeffer of the National Weather Service said a “real doozy” of a storm hovering over the Pacific Ocean could bring heavy rain to the already saturated watershed by early Saturday--possibly causing flooding along swollen creeks and rivers.

“We know it’s going to be a big storm and it’s going to bring some substantial rain,” he said. “We are at the point we are starting to have some problems.”

Residents living along the Ventura River already had a close call with flooding.

Wednesday night, the National Weather Service issued a warning of imminent flooding of the river, but canceled the warning soon after county flood control officials said the river was receding.

Issued at 9:24 p.m., the Weather Service advisory warned that the river would “likely overflow its banks overnight” and said flooding of the Ventura Freeway in low-lying areas was possible.

Although the widespread flooding did not materialize, the river broke its banks near the evacuated Ventura Beach R. V. Resort off Main Street in Ventura. The park--which flooded during heavy storms in February--had been closed by managers earlier in the evening in anticipation of the heavy rain.

After the warning was broadcast on Los Angeles television stations, Ventura County authorities received numerous calls from worried residents, and a number of curiosity seekers and anxious residents turned out to check on the river’s level.

Shortly before midnight, several men who earlier in the day had moved their camp from the river bottom to the top of the levee stood watch.

“We’ve got women and animals to take care of,” said a man who declined to give his name.

The warning was called off shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday, four trailers had returned to the RV park.

“What we are doing today is letting people stay on a day-by-day basis,” park manager Joe Crognale said.

Daunt is a Times staff writer and McCartney is a Times correspondent. Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday from the Ventura County Flood Control District. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location since Wednesday since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.48 10.16 5.67 Casitas Dam n/a n/a n/a El Rio 0.46 10.81 6.03 Fillmore 2.08 16.03 7.94 Moorpark 1.45 11.15 6.01 Ojai 1.85 17.68 8.41 Upper Ojai 3.02 18.24 8.97 Oxnard 0.23 9.47 5.79 Piru 1.20 14.58 6.88 Santa Paula 0.86 13.03 7.23 Simi Valley 1.52 12.36 5.73 Thousand Oaks 1.65 12.11 6.14 Ventura Govt. Center 0.57 11.20 6.42

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