Back Under Cover

A return to soggy weather Sunday prompted the cancellation of some outdoor events, but many hardy souls just threw on jackets and braved the elements.

Steady rainfall didn’t keep visitors away from the Hawaiian Chieftain, a tall ship docked at Ventura Harbor. A stream of tourists filed through the 19th century replica all day while its crew stood in the rain, helping guests on and off.

“I thought, ‘Oh, great, I get to go to California,’ and I get here and it’s all cloudy,” said sailor Arra Schippers, 16, of Michigan, who is spending a month on the sailing ship as part of a school project. “[But] I’d rather it be raining than the pounds and pounds of snow that we get.”

Forecasters said the storm could drop 1 to 3 inches of rain along the coast and about 5 inches in the mountains before tapering off Tuesday. Temperatures will range from lows of about 50 degrees to highs of about 60, said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Snow levels should be about 6,500 feet.

Occasional showers are predicted through Wednesday, and another storm could reach the county by Friday, Seto said. The amount of rain is not as troubling as the fact that the ground is already saturated, Seto said.

In addition to high runoff, the relatively warm storm will likely melt snow below 7,000 feet, filling local creeks and rivers, he said. A flood watch was in effect for most of Sunday for streams, rivers and low-lying areas. Of particular concern was flooding along the Ventura River, forecasters said.

Perry Swauger, a resident along Ojai’s San Antonio Creek, a tributary of the Ventura River, said he is not worrying about flooding, since Sunday’s storm was not expected to bring enough rain to cause the flooding that sometimes leaves him and his neighbors without access to Highway 33.

“I’m not worried about it--yet,” said Swauger, who keeps 15 horses on his property.

By late Sunday, more than an inch of rain had fallen at Matilija Dam, Lake Casitas, Santa Paula and in the beach community of La Conchita, north of Ventura. Nearly an inch fell Sunday afternoon in Ventura and Ojai. One-third of an inch was recorded in Simi Valley, Oxnard and Thousand Oaks.

“We’re gonna get a lot of rain in Ventura County. It’s still coming down and the totals will go up,” said Curt Kaplan, a weather service meteorologist.

The rain forced the cancellation of scores of outdoor activities, including a surfing contest at Rincon Beach.

At noontime on Ventura’s beach-side Promenade, which is normally crowded on Sundays, a lone walker, Donn Werrbach of Glendale, braved pelting rain. Nearby, others sat in their cars, sipped coffee and scanned the gray waves.

An occasional surfer had driven up, eyed the water and left, Werrbach said.

The California Highway Patrol reported about three dozen rain-related accidents Sunday, the majority on the Ventura Freeway.

The most serious crash occurred shortly before 6 p.m. when two cars collided head-on on Ventura Road near Casitas Vista Road, just north of Ventura, according to the CHP. Three people suffered major injuries and were taken to Ventura County Medical Center for treatment. Their names and conditions were not immediately available.

A series of storms that has swept over the region since mid-January has been a mixed blessing for the county’s $1-billion agriculture industry.

Citrus farmers are concerned with a brown rot fungus, said grower Link Leavens, who manages 600 acres of lemons and avocados around Ventura, Santa Paula and Moorpark. Before the rainy season, growers spray a copper sulfate and lime solution on lemon trees to prevent the fungus, but the spray loses its effectiveness after more than 10 inches of rain falls, Leavens said. Most groves have received more than 10 inches this season, so any new rainfall could mean damage to low-lying fruit.

Still, when you live in a semi-arid climate, Leavens said, you shouldn’t bad-mouth rain. “It’s a godsend. It’s like $20 bills coming out of the sky. It fills the reservoirs, leaches the salt, does all that good stuff.”

Still, he and other growers are hoping for a few dry days to prepare the trees for more rain.

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Times staff writer Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.