Rainstorm Slams Into County : Weather: More mud pours down hill in La Conchita, and residents are evacuated. Reports of flooding come in from elsewhere.

As a blustery, much-anticipated storm slammed into Ventura County Friday, another portion of the La Conchita landslide gave way, sending a river of mud, rocks and water down the hill and forcing authorities to evacuate at least 10 of the residents remaining in the beachside community.

Emergency crews elsewhere scrambled to dozens of calls of flooding, downed power lines and uprooted trees while firefighters responded to rain-related accidents scattered across the county. High water closed the Ventura Freeway northbound at California 33 and roads in the Ojai Valley, forcing residents to evacuate from their creekside homes.

Shortly before 10 p.m., authorities reported that the Ventura River was rising rapidly and could flood the freeway, cutting off La Conchita from the rest of the county.

Dolores Taylor, the county’s chief flood control engineer, said that despite having stalled for a day, the storm system was laden with “some truly ballistic amounts of moisture” as it hit the Ventura coastline.

Downpours and thunderheads were expected to continue through today, with skies turning partly cloudy Sunday. Meteorologists expected the brunt of the storm to have passed through the county by this morning.

The National Weather Service issued a surf advisory, predicting six- to nine-foot waves on south-facing beaches and seven- to 10-foot waves at west-facing beaches.

If the storm lives up to its billing, Taylor said, the Ventura River could swell to the level at which it jumped its banks and cut off the Ventura Freeway in January and in 1992.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department activated its Emergency Operations Center in the basement of the County Government Center to monitor potential flooding and mudslides.

“We’re just standing by to see what happens with the storm,” said Sgt. Ralph Zermeno. “Right now, La Conchita is our major concern.”

At the seaside enclave of nearly 200 houses, three feet of mud and large boulders tumbled onto Carpinteria Avenue in the latest slide, forcing residents to evacuate at least seven residents from nearby Santa Paula and Sunland avenues.

Emergency workers posted at the base of the slide were pulled back to Surfside Drive a quarter-mile away. Crews from the California Conservation Corps ducked into large vans, seeking shelter from the rain.

Gusts of wind blew barricades into the southbound lanes of Highway 101 and whipped street signs side to side. Churning waves crashed against the side of the freeway, shooting up plumes of spray.

As sheets of rain added more mud to the streets, Ron Ryan, of Vista Del Rincon Drive, ran to retrieve a few last items from his house, including a 10-foot potted palm tree.

“I’m moving paradise a little further from the mountain,” he said driving away.

Ventura County Firefighter Anthony Orozco said that after two days of preparing for foul weather at La Conchita, he didn’t mind when it finally hit.

“In a way, it’s kind of a relief,” he said. “But it’s kind of freaking some of our people out . . . . Well, I shouldn’t say that. But they’re taking extra precautions.”

Geologists surveying the hillside have described the soil as extremely unstable, with small chutes of dirt--called pop-outs--ready to let loose any time. On Friday, they discovered new horizontal cracks on the slope above Santa Paula Avenue.

County officials strongly urged all La Conchita residents to evacuate for the weekend. And sheriff’s deputies on nighttime patrol arrested non-resident Donald Martin on suspicion of prowling the evacuated neighborhood.

Now 141 homes are included in a hazard zone likely to be affected by mud flows and tumbling rocks and debris.

Heeding that advice, most residents had skipped town by midday Friday, leaving behind a mud-caked neighborhood overrun with disaster-assistance workers and media crews clad in knee-high rubber boots.

Network camera crews--including reporters from Telemundo and an Australian station--set up camp along a mucky, improvised parking lot facing the 600-foot-wide, horse-shoe shaped slide. A half-dozen microwave relay trucks lined Surfside Drive, with an equal number of satellite vans parked at Mussel Shoals across the freeway.

But until a new slide occurred, there was little action to record.

As one veteran ABC reporter put it: “This is like waiting for water to boil. It’s never going to happen if we’re watching.”

And at a briefing Friday morning, Ventura County Sheriff’s officials reminded residents that the effects of this week’s rain may not be seen for months.

Geologists suspect that it took weeks for heavy rainfall in January, or even last fall, to seep through the already unstable hillside and trigger last Saturday’s slide.

In preparation for the rain, a fire suppression crew from the California Youth Authority worked to build a second exit from the community. With shovels and sandbags, they constructed a dirt ramp across a railroad track by the Seaside Banana Garden at the north end.

Mike and Barbara Bell planned to weather the storm inside their home on Surfside Drive. The couple said they had confidence that road crews would keep their street clear of debris because it provides access to the entire community.

“The only difference now is that we’re sleeping on a futon downstairs, rather than upstairs, because it’s closer to the door,” Mike Bell said.

Indeed, as the rain intensified, Fillmore Avenue was deluged with four inches of water, and mud and occasional rolling rocks. Using a bulldozer, crews worked to keep open a culvert that drains the area.

La Conchita residents who hastily abandoned their property this week say they are now facing questions about their property and where they will reside in the future.

“Whether (my house) stands or not, it doesn’t make any difference at this point,” said Phil Aberle who owns a home on Sunland Avenue a half-block from the slide. “At this point it’s history. Who’s going to live in it? That would be risking your life.”

In other parts of Ventura County, residents settled in for a wet weekend and a replay of the storms that flooded many streets two months ago.

Santa Paula residents David Perez and Richard Rosales on Friday once again shoveled mud from the yard of Rosales’ father’s home, which suffered extensive damage from runoff during January’s storms.

Construction crews are in the middle of pouring a new foundation to raise the home by four feet--an elevation that should protect it from mud oozing out of adjacent orange groves.

“I told the guys to pour the concrete even if it’s raining,” said contractor Donald Ayala. “We need to get this done.”

In the Ojai Valley, firefighters and utility crews worked to clear fallen trees and power lines, including wires down near a horse corral owned by the Humane Society. Rising water and small slides stranded cars on California 33 Friday evening and temporarily shut down other roads.

Worried about flooding in debris-choked creeks, a dozen residents this week requested emergency permits from county flood control workers to remove vegetation in streams that feed into the Ventura River.

“They want to move the rocks,” Taylor said. “If the water’s pointing right at your barn, that’s not very nice.”

In Thousand Oaks, sheriff’s deputies were keeping close watch on runoff near Conejo Creek and a hillside along California 23 near Olsen Road. The area has a history of mudslides.

“Our main concern is flooding,” said Sgt. Margaret O’Donnell. “If we have excessive flooding, we will deploy (deputies in) 12-hour shifts.”

Police and firefighters in Ventura, meanwhile, worked to clear mud from a home on Barnett Street off Ventura Avenue and warn motorists of flooding on Main Street.

And in Carpinteria, the shock from a lightning bolt sent 17-year-old Jesse Gates to St. Francis Medical Center in Santa Barbara. Gates had been practicing with a group of Carpinteria High School track athletes.

George Davidson, a spokesman for the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, said the girl was more distressed than anything else.

“The loud bang scared the hell out of her,” he said. “Lord knows what they were doing out there.”

Times staff writers Duncan Martell and Constance Sommer and Times correspondents Paul Elias, Alan Hagman and Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.

County Rainfall Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control Department for the 24-hour period ending at 8 p.m. Friday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 1.06 20.42 10.33 Casitas Dam 2.36 41.14 18.25 El Rio 1.42 24.97 11.75 Fillmore 1.26 27.22 14.80 Moorpark 1.02 22.06 11.27 Ojai 1.93 33.94 16.55 Upper Ojai 3.58 41.07 18.00 Oxnard 1.42 24.97 11.30 Piru 1.02 26.25 13.22 Santa Paula 1.81 28.96 13.89 Simi Valley 0.55 21.96 10.96 Thousand Oaks 0.59 22.74 11.80 Ventura Govt. Center 1.77 26.47 12.53

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Rain Cancellations * The Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management program will postpone its fifth annual Spring Spectacular, “The Wild Kingdom,” if it rains this weekend. The show features stage shows, music, children’s areas, a teaching zoo and more. If skies are sunny, the shows will be held 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m.; today and Sunday. Rain dates are March 18-19 and March 25-26. Information: 378-1441.

* Ventura’s 7th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Irish Festival has been postponed until March 18. The event, to be held in downtown Ventura, will commence at 10 a.m. at the San Buenaventura Mission on Main Street and continue to Kalorama Street. An Irish Festival will follow from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mission Park with food booths, dancing, singing, storytelling and more. Free. Information: 652-0887.

* NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Heavy rains and winds hit Central and Northern California. A1