SANTA PAULA : County Expected to Act on Road Closure

Ventura County supervisors Tuesday are expected to declare a state of emergency on South Mountain Road near Santa Paula, allowing the county to apply for federal funds to remove debris from a recent landslide.

The action by the Board of Supervisors comes three weeks after tons of earth and rock tumbled across South Mountain Road east of Santa Paula, closing down part of the road. The Sept. 8 landslide was caused by a 3.1 magnitude earthquake centered 30 miles away.

Before reopening the road, the county’s Transportation Department must remove the debris at an estimated cost of $200,000 to $300,000, said W. Butch Britt, the department’s deputy director of public works, in a letter to the supervisors.

“Time is of the essence in removal of the slide. We are close to the time when heavy rainfall is often experienced,” the letter said. “If work on the slide cannot be substantially completed prior to the onset of heavy rainfall, work would have to be suspended or delayed until the slope could dry and stabilize.”