SPRING STORM PUMMELS REGION, BUT DAMAGE LIGHT.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

The first significant storm in a month spawned mudslides and minor flooding in pockets of Ventura County, but the recent dry spell helped renew vegetation and prepare the ground for heavy rainfall.

Rainfall snarled the morning commute, causing crashes on the Ventura and Ronald Reagan freeways, and landslides that closed the Pacific Coast Highway north of Ventura and Malibu Canyon Road near Calabasas.

There were 36 vehicle crashes reported on county highways and roads by the California Highway Patrol. One involved a car and a Greyhound Bus on the Ventura Freeway near Borchard Road. No major injuries were reported in any of the crashes, said Officer Dave Cockrill, a CHP spokesman.

Minor flooding was reported in the Ventu Park area of Thousand Oaks and in areas of the Ojai Valley. The one landslide affecting homes was in Casitas Springs, north of Ventura, where mud entered one home and left a road impassable to occupants of four other homes.

``Luckily I didn't have to go anywhere,'' said Curt McKenna, one of the residents in the rural neighborhood off Nye Road. ``I was pretty secure in here. My niece came in and brought me some groceries.''

What saved McKenna is a 4-foot-high berm of broken concrete and boulders he installed a year ago in anticipation of a slide. ``It held up pretty well.''

McKenna said neighbors heard the hillside around their homes groan and let loose a muddy torrent early Wednesday morning. County fire crews spent the day sandbagging and using heavy equipment to remove mud from the access road off Nye Road.

``There was a small area of movement in the canyon. Then the rain came to start mixing it all together,'' explained county fire Battalion Chief Glenn Garcia. ``It's a historical problem. We just haven't seen it like this before.''

Fire crews also were on patrol in areas of Thousand Oaks and Ojai where this season's previous storms have caused major damage. Swift-water rescue teams also were activated as the sometimes heavy rainfall filled creeks with runoff.

Flash-flood watches and urban flooding advisories were posted for most of the day.

Adding to what already has been an unusually wet winter as a result of the El Nino climate pattern, rainfall amounts ranged from about 4 inches above Ojai and 3 inches in the Santa Monica Mountains above the Conejo Valley to about 2 inches in Ventura and Simi Valley, said National Weather Service and Ventura County Flood Control District officials.

``This is the first good one we've really had this month,'' said Stuart Seto, a Weather Service forecaster.

Rain was expected to yield to partly cloudy skies today, though another storm was expected to bring increasing chances of rain Friday and Saturday.

No flooding was reported on county creeks and rivers, flood control officials said.

``We've gone several weeks without any precipitation. The drying-out period helped with how much moisture that the soil has to absorb. It helped a great deal,'' said Robin Jester, flood control engineer.

Another ray of hope for the region has been the growth of annual grasses, the season's first wildflowers, and new growth on shrubs and trees.

``That has helped with the mudslides. We've had a lot of growth from the hot spell keeping the hillsides in place,'' said Sandi Wells, county Fire Department spokeswoman.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Spencer Carney, 18, changes a tire on his truck as his father, John, holds an umbrella in Simi Valley on Wednesday.

(2) Kim Vorgich and her daughter, Madeline, reflect on the elements at the Janss Mall.

Tina Gerson/Daily News