Storm Damage Still Generating Long Commutes

The rain has stopped, but frustrated Southern California motorists are still dealing with the aftermath of rockslides, sinkholes and road repairs that have choked and stalled traffic in places from Ojai to Big Bear.

Ojai motorists are enduring four-hour commutes after last week’s heavy storms closed all but one of the five arteries leading to and from the normally placid Ventura County valley.

Residents say they have been virtually stranded since Jan. 10, when rain triggered widespread flooding, mudslides and washed-out roads and bridges.

The only major road that remains open, California 33 between Ojai and Ventura, is down to a single lane as California Department of Transportation workers make emergency repairs to a section of the two-lane highway that was nearly washed away by floodwaters.

“You either leave at 6 in the morning or come home at midnight,” said David Matzke, a mortgage consultant who decided to sit out the early morning commute Wednesday at a coffee house next to California 33.

Meanwhile, Caltrans is advising travelers to stay clear of Interstate 5 north of Castaic for a week so workers can finish clearing a mudslide in the southbound lanes near Templin Highway. The interstate remains open, but there may be significant backups from lane closures in both directions, said Judy Gish, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

A rockslide on Malibu Canyon Road closed that thoroughfare early Wednesday between Piuma Road and Civic Center Way. But it was reopened late in the day after crews cleared the road.

In Orange County, Ortega Highway, closed for major repairs since last week’s storms, is scheduled to open Monday, authorities said. A portion of the highway, connecting south Orange County to Lake Elsinore, collapsed after torrential rains bored a hole in its pavement about three miles east of the San Diego Freeway near San Juan Capistrano. As a result, authorities said, some travelers had 90 minutes added to their commutes.

In San Bernardino County, Public Works spokesman David Wert said California 330 in Big Bear has opened with a worker ushering traffic through, as crews continue mop-up duty on rockslides and road repairs.

Sheriff’s deputies are escorting traffic on California 18 to and from 40th Street in San Bernardino and to and from mountain communities during morning commute hours. Lytle Creek Road has reopened.

Secluded in a valley 25 miles north of Ventura, the 35,000 residents of the Ojai Valley have been particularly hard hit because alternate routes have been shut down.

California 150 between Ojai and Santa Barbara is closed while crews repair a bridge that washed out during the storms. A portion of 150 that links Ojai to Santa Paula is also closed while a sinkhole is patched.

Times staff writers Daryl Kelley, Lance Pugmire and Jeff Gottlieb contributed to this report.