HOMES MIRED IN MUDDY SITUATION; FLOODED SIMI FAMILIES CLEAN AS CITY, MTA FIGHT OVER FAULT.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

Weeks after their households were inundated with a tidal wave of mud and water, two families still are cleaning up the mess while the city and Metrolink are sorting out who is responsible.

Public Works director Ron Coons says the clogged drain that caused flooding Feb. 7 in the homes of Joseph Rey and Robin Kewish on the 5700 block of Katherine Street is Metrolink's domain.

``Metrolink has an 8-foot-tall debris rack on the south side of the railroad tracks that was full of debris and had not been maintained for a long time,'' he said. ``The debris went over the fence and clogged a drain on the north side of the tracks, which they're responsible for.''

Mike McGinley, Metrolink's director of engineering, disagreed with Coons.

``Unless Ron can bring to me an agreement that shows the railroad built those drains years ago . . . the fact is, they simply would not build such a small facility. The drain is the city's.''

McGinley also said the question of responsibility is further complicated by the fact that Metrolink's debris racks were full because the adjacent hillside - unincorporated Ventura County land - has been so developed that heavy rains send mud and construction materials downhill.

``We just can't control all this mud and debris coming down,'' he said. ``I think everybody recognizes this is bigger than the city and Metrolink. It needs a meeting of engineering minds.''

Although McGinley said a meeting of city, Ventura County and Metrolink officials was in the works, Coons wasn't aware of the meeting, nor was Assistant City Manager Laura Herron.

Meanwhile on Friday, Kathy Rey and her mother, Anita Duprey, were still vacuuming and scraping mud off floors where carpeting had to be removed after the flood.

The back and side yards of the Rey and Kewish households are both smothered in a layer of mud.

``I stepped outside for a minute, and when I came back in the whole house was flooded. Water and mud poured through the house and into the kitchen. We were sweeping and shoveling it out through the garage,'' she said. ``It was terrible. It's awful having to live like this.''

Water from the southern hills drains through a tunnel beneath the Metrolink railroad tracks that spills into a short concrete channel that runs to the 2-foot-by-3-foot drain that clogged Feb. 7.

The drain sits next to the Kewish and Rey property lines. When the drain clogged, the water crashed through the Kewishes' wooden fencing, sending water and mud into both homes.

McGinley said Metrolink will pay for damages at both households, and will continue to clean the area while officials work out a plan to avert further problems.

But Joseph Rey said he has yet to hear about compensation, although he said Metrolink insurance adjuster Greg Graves paid them a visit after the flood.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Shaun Rey checks the back yard of his parents' home on Katherine Street in Simi. A blocked water-channel is blamed for the mud.

(2--Color) Anita Duprey cleans a room Friday at the home of her daughter, a neighbor of the Reys, that was swamped by a mudslide Feb. 7.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News