On Collision Course With Rainstorms

A rare May storm dropped more than an inch of rain on portions of Ventura County on Tuesday, spurring isolated street flooding and more than two dozen car crashes, and prompting some to wonder: What happened to spring?

In a county that typically gets about a quarter inch of rain in May, 1 to 5 inches have already fallen, flood control officials say.

And there is more to come, with widely scattered showers and thunderstorms expected to continue through this afternoon and possibly return this weekend.

“It’s May, isn’t it?” asked Roger Wilborn as he hauled a load of lumber onto his truck under steady rainfall at the Home Base store in Simi Valley. “I think it’s May, but this here looks more like January or February . . . in Seattle.”

The freak storm--an unstable, fast-moving one from the Gulf of Alaska--caused no major problems or injuries. It did, however, break a 57-year-old seasonal rainfall record in Port Hueneme, where 33.1 inches of rain have fallen since Oct. 1.

Rainfall was sporadic across the county, with some areas receiving significant amounts and others little more than a steady drizzle.

By late Tuesday afternoon, rainfall gauges had recorded anywhere from nearly half an inch in Simi Valley to more than 1.6 inches at an elevation of 4,100 feet atop Nordhoff Ridge above Ojai.

About an inch was recorded at the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, 1.18 inches at Matilija Dam, and about a half inch in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks. Two inches of snow was on the ground at the Sheriff’s Department substation in Lockwood Valley, at an elevation of about 5,400 feet along California 33. No road closures or major problems were reported in the isolated area, which is home to between 700 and 900 full-time residents.

Forecasters said coastal and valley areas were expected to receive up to an inch of rain, with up to 2 inches in the mountains and foothills by today. Snow levels could dip as low as 4,000 feet, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory through 8 p.m. Tuesday.

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The storm was expected to dissipate overnight. The forecast for this morning called for mostly cloudy skies, scattered showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms.

Breezy, cloudy conditions with a decreasing chance of showers were forecast for this afternoon.

With more than 200 rain gauges to account for and more than 100 years of recorded readings, county flood control officials were not immediately certain whether this has been the rainiest month on record.

“I know that this is pretty wet because we’re way above what is considered normal for the county,” said engineer Robin Jester of the Ventura County Flood Control District.

The California Highway Patrol reported 25 accidents on county freeways between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m.--about three times the normal number.

One of the accidents injured a CHP officer. His parked patrol car was rear-ended by a van on California 118, just west of Rocky Peak Road, about 2:30 p.m.

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Officer Stan Dragun, a 19-year-old woman he was interviewing in his patrol car and the two women in the van were taken to Simi Valley Adventist Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

All four were expected to be released by Tuesday evening.

CHP spokesman Dave Cockrill said Dragun was there to investigate an accident that had occurred minutes earlier.

The patrol car and the van were severely damaged in the crash, which shut down one eastbound lane for more than an hour.

In another accident just before noon, a county Fire Department courier delivering mail lost control of a department van on California 150 near Steckel Park in Santa Paula. The van overturned, struck a utility pole and landed in a culvert during a driving rain.

Cockrill said the driver, Richard Cutting, 26, of Simi Valley, was traveling over the 45 mph speed limit and lost control on a curve.

The utility pole snapped in half on impact, knocking out power to Fire Station 20, as well as to 174 other customers in the rural area. Power to all but four customers was restored by 4 p.m., Southern California Edison reported.

No other power failures were reported.

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Cutting suffered minor injuries to his hand and a bruise on the leg, Cockrill said. The van was totaled.

It was not immediately certain that rain contributed to the accident, Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells said. A standard internal investigation is planned.

Meanwhile, county environmental health officials on Tuesday removed warnings posted last week along several Ventura beaches.

The warnings came after 22,500 gallons of raw sewage poured through the mouth of the Ventura River after a sewage line break near Meiners Oaks on May 5.

County health officials said bacteriological samples of ocean water Friday showed that the water quality had returned to acceptable levels.

The spill effectively closed beaches from the Ventura Pier to Emma Wood State Beach.

Times staff writers Chris Chi and Coll Metcalfe and correspondent Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.

(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 8 p.m. Tuesday. 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 0.71 34.20 12.80 Casitas Dam 0.87 57.85 22.70 Casitas 0.98 54.74 22.48 Rec. Center Fillmore 0.55 43.67 18.15 Matilija Dam 1.18 62.89 26.06 Moorpark 0.20 33.95 14.27 Ojai 1.06 47.41 20.76 Upper Ojai 1.26 53.27 22.86 Oxnard 0.59 36.13 14.12 Piru 0.55 37.62 16.69 Port 0.39 33.10 13.65 Hueneme Santa Paula 0.83 40.62 16.96 Simi Valley 0.43 36.28 13.96 Thousand Oaks 0.51 32.67 14.95 Ventura 0.98 41.54 15.56 Govt. Center

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