Storm Brings Rain, Snow but No Slides : Weather: Gusty winds, high surf and rip currents also hit the area. Another system is expected as soon as Sunday.

A two-day Alaskan storm blanketed Mt. Pinos with two feet of snow and dropped one to three inches of rain at lower elevations across Ventura County without triggering any mudslides in the denuded hills scorched by last fall’s wildfires.

Meteorologists forecast a return of clouds Thursday, with rain coming again as soon as Sunday.

The storm left gusty winds and high surf with dangerous rip currents Tuesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a small-craft advisory and caution swimmers, surfers and fishermen to stay out of the water.

Meteorologists and state lifeguards warned of sudden large and forceful waves that could cover an area that had been completely dry moments before, dragging unsuspecting adults and children into the swift-moving water.

“It happens all too frequently at Mugu Rock,” said Steve White, a lifeguard with the state Parks and Recreation Department. “People get washed off the rocks by a big wave or they slip (while) trying to recover a lure.”

The big waves were expected to diminish by today. And although the ocean was brown with muddy runoff from rivers, there was no contamination from sewage, officials said.

The storm also brought a two-foot cover of new snow to the Mt. Pinos area, where U. S. Forest Service rangers cautioned motorists to bring chains and be prepared for icy roads and unpredictable weather.

“We probably have the best cross-country skiing in Southern California,” said Mark Bethke, Mt. Pinos district ranger for Los Padres National Forest. Bethke said he expects an influx of visitors this weekend if the weather is as clear as it was Tuesday morning.

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“It’s absolutely gorgeous here today,” he said. “Of course, every day is beautiful on Mt. Pinos.”

The mountains and foothills received the most rain in Ventura County, with the areas in the Ventura River watershed topping the list. The storm, which began Sunday and had dropped most of its rainfall by shortly after midnight Monday, left nearly four inches at the Matilija Dam on the Ventura River’s westernmost tributary.

“It was a good thing the rain quit when it did because we were approaching the saturation point,” said John Weikel, county engineer. “If it had continued much longer, we could have had problems with flooding at the RV park and other low-lying areas.”

Weikel referred to the Ventura RV Beach Resort, where dozens of recreational vehicles and campers were damaged when the Ventura River followed an historical path and flooded the RV park during a deluge in February, 1991.

But there were no problems Monday night or Tuesday. “Our alarm system is always ready,” said resort store Manager Ramona Martinek. “We were concerned and cautious, but there was no threat.”

The Santa Clara River, which collects water from the mountains behind Fillmore and Piru and another 50 miles of hills in Los Angeles County, was in no danger of flooding, Weikel said.

Santa Paula received the most rain in that watershed, with a two-day storm total of 1.68 inches.

Calleguas Creek, which drains the Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo areas, had no trouble handling the two-day storm. Simi Valley received the most rain in that area--nearly an inch over the two days.

“The Calleguas watershed had much less rain and has much more capacity to absorb storm flows than the Ventura River watershed does,” Weikel said.

Overall, the soil held up well throughout the county, said Peggy Rose, field office engineer for the U. S. Soil Conservation Service.

Rose said a dry period will help keep soils stable, especially in the areas burned in last year’s fires.

“If a new storm were to hit tomorrow, we would be in danger (of mudslides),” Rose said. “But over a week, it’s hard to say. It will depend on the intensity of the storm when it comes in.”

Three catch basins being constructed by the county and the conservation service to stop debris and mud flows in the burned areas in Santa Paula and Newbury Park held up during the storm. The two nearly complete basins in Santa Paula caught some silt and other debris carried by runoff and kept it from coming down the mountain.

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But in Newbury Park, the construction on the basin lagged further behind, and it was not functional in the storm, Rose said.

To help prevent mudslides in burned areas, Thousand Oaks city engineers constructed about 100 small gravel barriers, each about two feet high, in the canyons above Newbury Park homes. Crews resumed work Tuesday to clear any trapped debris or silt and repair any damage to the barriers, said Gil Pableo, city engineer.

The gravel embankments are only an interim solution to erosion of the burned hillsides, he said.

“The permanent solution is vegetation,” Pableo said. Although seeds planted after the fire had not yet germinated because of low rainfall before this storm, Pableo said residents can soon expect to see “a nice greenish tinge” on the hillsides above their homes.

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control District for the two-day storm ending 8 a.m. Tuesday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location storm total since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.87 3.97 7.95 Casitas Dam 3.50 8.23 13.80 El Rio 2.01 5.49 8.81 Fillmore 1.49 4.94 11.17 Moorpark 0.94 3.99 8.61 Ojai 2.10 6.11 12.35 Upper Ojai 2.92 7.61 13.30 Oxnard 1.48 4.40 8.49 Piru 1.23 4.52 10.04 Santa Paula 1.68 5.46 10.36 Simi Valley 0.99 4.40 8.92 Thousand Oaks 0.98 4.53 8.19 Ventura Govt. Center 1.88 5.27 9.39