Ventura County survives latest storm that brought flooding, rock slides and evacuations
Ventura County's burn areas withstood a series of storms that dumped inches of rain on the region over a span of several days, leaving flowing rivers and greener hillsides.
The last storm passed through on Thursday but arrived late Wednesday and packed a punch, said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Unlike Tuesday's storm, which was a "dud" compared to what forecasters predicted, the final storm lived up to those expectations.
"We did get the intensity we were expecting, if not higher, because we did have some thunderstorms," Kittell said.
Between 3 p.m. Wednesday and 3 p.m. Thursday, Ojai received 1.67 inches of rain, Santa Paula received 2.04 inches and Fillmore received 2.58 inches, according to the Ventura County Watershed Protection District.
Some mountain areas received 3.9 to 6.32 inches of precipitation.
The storm delivered 1.31 inches of rain to Thousand Oaks, 0.78 inches to Simi Valley and 0.66 inches to Moorpark.
In other parts of the county, Camarillo received 0.72 inches, Oxnard received 0.47 inches and Ventura received 1.03 inches.
The system pushed five-day rain totals for some areas above 4 inches.
In the week's series of storms, most regions of the county received well over 2 inches of rain.
Matilija Canyon received the most with 8.72 inches.
Despite the heavy rainfall, officials in Ventura and Los Angeles counties said the Woolsey, Hill and Thomas fire burn areas held up fairly well.
Kevin McGowan, manager of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services, said authorities were able to do some preliminary damage assessment surveys but nothing major has been reported.
"As far as damage we haven’t had any reports of nuisance or significant damages to homes, businesses or anything like that for areas of the burn," McGowan said.
It was the same in Los Angeles County, where the most significant issues occurred outside the Woolsey Fire burn area on Topanga Canyon and Malibu Canyon roads.
"Despite the situation and the condition of the soil on those hillsides they’re doing relatively OK. We’ve prepared for the worst," said Pono Barnes, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Evacuations were ordered in both counties but most of the orders issued for Ventura County were lifted by 12:30 p.m. A mandatory evacuation was still in place for the Ventura RV Beach Resort on West Main Street where campers were told to leave due to the nearby Ventura River flowing over.
By 5 p.m., all evacuations in the Woolsey Fire burn area in Los Angeles County were lifted.
Kittell, the meteorologist, said drier skies and higher temperatures are on the horizon for the weekend. Weak Santa Ana winds forecast for the weekend were expected to contribute to the warmer weather.
The storm, filling waterways throughout the region Thursday, also prompted multiple rescues in Ventura County.
Ventura Fire Department Chief David Endaya said city fire personnel pulled one person from the river bottom who became stuck due to rushing waters Thursday morning.
Just after 1 p.m., three people and a dog were rescued by Ventura County Fire Department crews after they became trapped on an island in the Santa Clara River, according to Ventura County fire Capt. Stan Ziegler.
The three people and the dog were airlifted to dry land and did not require medical treatment, Ziegler said.
About 50 campers at the Ventura Beach RV Resort on West Main Street felt the brunt of the storm Thursday morning when the nearby Ventura River flooded, causing water to rush into the park, Endaya said
It prompted authorities to evacuate the park, Endaya said.
There were some "pretty considerable" rainfall amounts reported early Thursday in the upper Ojai, Matilija and Nordhoff Peak areas. Those places fed into the Ventura River watershed and triggered the first phase of an evacuation plan should the river overflow, McGowan said.
Not all of the campers were there at the time the evacuation order was issued, Endaya said, so some had to be contacted and told to get their belongings and leave.
Water rushed into the park and nearly met the door handles of several vehicles left abandoned in the parking lot.
"They told us to evacuate immediately," said Michael Gordon, who pulled his trailer out of the park after the 8 a.m. evacuation order.
Gordon was one of several people who hurriedly ran around their trailers and vehicles packing belongings as water from the Ventura River rushed into the park. Crews ran around the park placing sandbags.
Juan Alvarez learned of the evacuation Thursday morning.
"I was showering when I heard a banging on my door," Alvarez said.
He was told that, within the hour, the park would be covered by 4 feet of water.
However, Alvarez's vehicle was not equipped to tow his trailer and he relied upon RV park workers to pull it out of the facility.
"They got it out," he said
Crews were also busy elsewhere in the county where stretches of major highways and county roads were blocked or closed as rock slides, trees and mud fell onto roadways.
The storm caused mud and rocks to flow onto Highway 33 north of Ojai, prompting the closure of the roadway for at least the weekend, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The closure begins at the intersection of the 33 and Fairview Road and runs to Highway 166. Lockwood Valley Road was also closed from Highway 33 to Chico Larson Road, authorities said.
Only residents of the area were allowed to access the roadway.
By late Thursday morning, however, crews were already working to clear thick mounds of mud from the 33, using shovels and tractors.
Just outside the Ventura city limits, deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office were called to a report of gunshots near Highway 33 and Shell Road. No evidence of a shooting was found but some branches had snapped in the nearby river bottom, said sheriff's Capt. Jose Rivera.
He said maybe the echo from the sound of the tree breaking could have prompted the shooting report.
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