Rain Causes Flooding, Traffic Death

A Pacific storm spawned serious flooding in El Rio and numerous traffic accidents Thursday, including a single-car rollover on Telegraph Road near Fillmore that killed a Camarillo man, authorities said.

Some parts of Ventura County received more than two inches of rain, and in various places across the county the normal rainfall amount has more than doubled since this time last year. Rain was expected to continue overnight, giving way to clear skies tonight.

Traffic accidents kept authorities busy all day Thursday. At 9:30 a.m., 72-year-old Arthur G. Hueg of Camarillo was killed when his delivery van overturned on Telegraph Road near Fish Hatchery Road, authorities said.

About an hour later, CHP Officer Bill Brandon was investigating an accident on the Ventura Freeway near Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard, when he was struck by a car.

“He was at a previous accident and a lady hydroplaned and hit him,” said CHP Officer Brian DeMattia. No arrests were made.

Brandon suffered minor injuries when the car grazed his leg. He was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for bruises and released.

“He was pretty lucky. He could have been killed,” DeMattia said.

And shortly after 1 p.m., a driver’s car in Simi Valley was rear-ended by another motorist on Alamo Street at the intersection of Shannon Drive. Yvette Ford, 29, who suffered a fractured pelvis and head trauma, remained in critical condition at Simi Valley Hospital late Thursday, while the woman who hit her from behind, Celeste Dubrick, 30, was treated for knee and neck pain and released. Police said the cause of the accident is under investigation.

DeMattia warned drivers to be cautious on freeways. The speed limit has been increased, but 65 mph is not necessarily a safe speed in the rain, he said.

“This is the first major rain and there’s a lot of oil on the road,” DeMattia said. “Slow down. We are busy enough and we don’t need any more accidents.”

DeMattia said drivers shouldn’t race to their destination. Instead, “when it rains, wake up 15 minutes early.”

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The Ventura County Fire Department responded to traffic accidents all day Thursday--including 27 between 6 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., said spokeswoman Marnie Morgan. “Before 11 o’clock this morning we had 16 traffic collisions already,” she said.

“But we haven’t had too many flooding calls,” Morgan said. That all changed about 3 p.m., when water started flowing over the banks of a new storm drain on Central Avenue near Vineyard Avenue, in the unincorporated area of El Rio.

The flooding closed Central Avenue for about two hours, and kept traffic off Burson and Perry ways even longer, Morgan said.

Residents were angered that the drain was not living up to its billing.

“Last year, we had a 15-hour downpour and it didn’t get like this,” said Gerard Fontes, who lives in the 400 block of Burson Way.

Maryanne Gomez, who lives in the 4700 block of Strickland Drive, one block south of Perry Way, said for the second year in a row her garage had two to three inches of water in it. Carpeting in a computer room behind the garage had already dried out from the previous year’s flood. Gomez noted, however, “I think this time it’s going to have to be replaced.”

Wet weather flooded roadways across the county and sent public and private employees scrambling for trash cans and buckets as a result of leaky roofs.

A garbage can on the lobby floor and a steady “drip, drip, drip” were telltale signs that the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza had sprung a leak--again. The culprit was earthquake-safe building joints that connect sections of the complex structure.

“We really don’t have a roof that’s leaking,” said Joseph D. Schlesinger, general services manager. “We have seismic joints that are leaking.”

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Because the building is constructed of porous stucco, the only way to mend the soggy ceilings is to seal and reseal until the joints are water-tight. “We will eventually get it sealed,” Schlesinger said.

After school let out Thursday afternoon, two Moorpark residents stood guard along the Arroyo Simi hoping to stop children from crossing the swollen creek where 11-year-old Joel Burchfield drowned in January.

“It was raining pretty constant and the arroyo was moving pretty good,” Rob Jacalone said. “We were encouraged by the fact that no kids showed up. I think for the moment we’ve got the message across.”

The rain prompted officials in Ventura to issue a slide warning for the hillside areas burned during the Poli Street fire last month. Residents of Aliso Street, who watched as flames from the Oct. 25 arson blaze came within 30 feet of their houses, received a load of sand and a supply of bags Thursday from the city to be used in case of mudslides.

In addition, city workers used hay bales to keep mud from clogging a drainage ditch at the north end of the street. Thursday afternoon, Ventura Fire Department Capt. Vern Alstot surveyed the blackened hillsides of Aliso Canyon and was pleased to see some green peeking through. If the rainfall remained light, he said, the new growth might be enough to keep the burned areas from sliding onto the houses below.

“Someone prayed for rain during the fire,” Alstot said, referring to the light shower that fell during the Poli Street fire. “Let’s pray that it stays like this.”

Even La Conchita, the coastal community that suffered severe landslides during the winter storms of 1995, fared well during this storm.

“All’s quiet in the area,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. John Hoelker.

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While officials tried to help homeowners protect their investments, the Ventura County Rescue Mission in Oxnard opened its doors during the day to help those who have little to call their own.

Fleeing the cool temperatures and the endless gray sky, homeless men gathered at the shelter on 6th Street, where they read the newspaper, curled up on mattresses on the chapel floor and watched a videotape of “The Ten Commandments.”

Apart from serving meals, the shelter is usually closed during the day. But the rain prompted an exception, said Associate Director Carol Roberg.

“Where do the homeless go when it rains?” she said. “They’re right here. We try to distribute warm, dry clothing and we make coffee so they feel as comfortable as possible.”

The Paseo Camarillo Cinemas, 390 Lantana St., in Camarillo was among several businesses in the county affected by the storm. Water started coming through a wall after midnight Wednesday, and by the next morning had flooded one of the three theaters, said manager Rebecca Lytle.

“I came in this morning and heard water dripping,” Lytle said.

Despite the heavy rain, it did not appear that people were purchasing sand “with a sense of urgency” in Thousand Oaks, according to Dennis Carlson, owner of Carlson Building Materials.

“People only buy sandbags when it’s pouring rain and has been pouring rain,” he said, while a black feline named Cat snoozed nearby on a pile of empty plastic sandbags.

“As soon as it quits raining--no more sandbags. They’re just not something you can squirrel away in your garage and use next year,” said Carlson.

Times correspondents David Baker, Anne Louise Bannon and Jason Terada contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control Department for the 24-hour period ending at 7 p.m. Thursday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

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Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 1.65 2.51 1.70 Casitas Dam 1.65 6.28 02.57 Casitas Rec. Center 1.73 5.86 02.75 Fillmore 1.50 5.02 02.43 Matilija Dam 1.73 6.72 02.81 Moorpark 1.93 3.53 01.79 Upper Ojai 1.34 6.03 02.47 Oxnard 2.09 2.71 01.54 Piru 0.16 2.71 01.92 Port Hueneme 2.20 2.75 01.61 Santa Paula 1.65 4.26 02.14 Simi Valley 1.46 3.11 01.62 Thousand Oaks 1.46 2.94 01.75 Ventura Govt. Center 1.93 3.43 01.76

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