Steady Diet of Rain Shows No Signs of Lightening Up

Rain has fallen for 10 of the first 21 days in 1997 and Ventura County’s steady liquid diet shows no sign of abating, with heavy rain possible late this afternoon and tonight.

“It’s going to get heavier before it gets lighter,” said Stuart Seto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office. “We’ve got huge amounts of moisture coming at us from the west.”

Seto wasn’t ready to predict rainfall amounts, but the expected precipitation could be heavier than that seen so far this week.

At press time Tuesday, no flooding or mudslides had been reported during the gentle rains, but the county’s water managers remain concerned. A downpour on top of the constant drizzle could unleash problems for residents in unstable hillside or fire-damaged areas.

“This type of light rain doesn’t cause the major mud flows and problems, but it’s like priming the pump,” county hydrologist John Weikel said. “We’ve crossed 10 inches of rain total for the season--that seems to be one threshold we look at--and once you get 10 inches of rain, it starts to soak in deep enough to possibly get things moving.”

Still, the trails that lace the Santa Monica Mountains above Thousand Oaks are holding steady for now, according to the National Park Service.

Despite Monday morning showers that grew heavy enough to warrant a flood advisory, the park’s slopes and hillsides appear intact, said George Roberts, a volunteer at the park service’s visitors center.

“We haven’t had any neighbors calling to complain that our park is running onto their property like we did two Januarys ago,” he said.

However, hikers shouldn’t plan on staying at the Happy Hollow campground off Yerba Buena Road any time soon. The campground, along with the Rocky Oaks site in the Los Angeles County portion of the park, is closed because its muddy roads and swamp-like grounds resemble a soggy hollow.

In Moorpark on Tuesday afternoon, three Sheriff’s Department volunteers stood guard over Arroyo Simi, hoping to turn back any children who might try wading through the swift-running water on the way home from school. For six weeks, volunteers have patrolled the creek where 11-year-old Joel Burchfield died almost a year ago and turned back about 30 kids, said Kathy LeClair, coordinator of Moorpark’s Police Resource Station.

Despite the arroyo’s notorious reputation, children keep coming to cross or play, with some ignoring the volunteers.

“We had three high school kids literally thumb their noses and cross,” LeClair said Tuesday.

A groundbreaking ceremony for a footbridge across the stream is scheduled Saturday, with construction expected to start by the end of the month.

In the meantime, more creek watchers are being recruited and can volunteer by calling 531-9113.

Ventura County has already received about 70% of normal seasonal precipitation, and the heaviest rains usually occur during January, February and March, Weikel said.

“If we just get normal rainfall for the rest of the year, we’ll end up about 130% of the normal rainfall for the year,” he said. “Normally, we get much above or much below normal rainfall. You can either have feast or famine, a drought or flood, but you very seldom get a steady diet of what we’re getting now like they do in Seattle.”

The chance of rain should diminish tonight, but rain could return Saturday and Sunday.

(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 6:30 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 0.28 9.89 6.34 Casitas Dam 0.35 18.73 10.74 Casitas Rec. Center 0.28 17.68 10.72 Fillmore 0.24 14.85 8.84 Matilija Dam 0.16 21.09 11.88 Moorpark 0.31 10.48 6.78 Ojai 0.16 15.07 9.52 Upper Ojai 0.24 18.66 10.18 Oxnard 0.28 10.15 6.56 Piru 0.08 11.41 7.81 Port Hueneme 0.47 9.05 6.49 Santa Paula 0.08 13.52 8.09 Simi Valley 0.31 10.47 6.48 Thousand Oaks 0.35 11.05 6.95 Ventura Govt. Center 0.35 11.70 7.27

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