Dam Created by Landslide Threatens Ventura Homes

VENTURA — Hours before another strong Pacific storm hammered the area Monday, the city braced for a potential disaster waiting in the hills north of town.

An earthen dam created by a landslide more than a week ago has pinched off a portion of Hall Canyon, creating a 7-acre lake of water, mud and debris about three to four miles north of the city.

Officials feared that with the rain late Monday and today, the dam of loose earth might break and inundate homes and businesses around north Poli Street in Ventura with as much as 3 feet of water.

“We see a danger up there, but don’t know if it will even occur,” said Ventura Fire Chief Dennis Downs. “But with the additional rainfall, at some point, there could be enough pressure behind this to force the dam to turn loose.”

Officials said initial inspections showed the dam to be relatively stable. But if the dam were to give way, officials said, it could flood more than 60 homes near north Poli Street between Seaward Avenue and Brent Street.

*

City workers went door to door alerting residents of the danger on Monday. Beginning this morning, authorities are expected to notify residents in the area bounded by Seaward on the west, McKinley Drive on the south, Brent on the east, and Poli on the north.

To lessen the flooding threat, crews from the city’s Department of Public Works and Texaco, which has pipelines elsewhere in the canyon, installed four massive pumps to drain the water.

Crews had the pumps, each of which drains as much as 15,000 gallons of water per minute, up and working by late Monday afternoon.

City officials planned to monitor the area throughout the night and set up a 24-hour emergency hotline, 339-4360, to provide information.

If the threat of flooding continues or worsens, schools Supt. Joseph Spirito said, he may suspend classes today at Ventura High School, which is in the affected area.

The Red Cross set up an emergency evacuation center at Anacapa Middle School for residents who wanted to leave their homes.

Most, however, chose to stay and watch over their properties.

“We’re concerned especially with all this new rain,” said Julie Fawcett, who spent the afternoon sandbagging her Eugenia Street home. “But right now, there’s no reason for sheer panic. . . . We’re just going to ride it out and hope that nothing happens.”

Even with the rain, Fawcett’s neighbor Stacey Ayub doubted anything significant would happen.

“I feel kind of bad because all my neighbors are freaking out,” she said. “But the way I see it, things like that don’t happen in Ventura, but if it does I’ll definitely be a fool.”

*

Even if the dam holds, the threat will not be over.

According to meteorologists at the National Weather Service, a series of three more storms--all with the potential for heavy rains--are lined up across the Pacific. Forecasters predict the next storm will hit the California coast Thursday, with the others coming ashore into next week.

“The ground’s still moist and saturated, so a lot of rain will run off,” said Stuart Set of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “Rock- and mudslides can follow. There’s a potential for all these things.”

Crews also continued working to mop up a weekend oil spill caused by an unrelated landslide on a ridge that separates the San Jon Barranca and Hall Canyon.

Investigators are trying to determine exactly what caused a 57-year-old pipe owned by the Shell Oil Co. to rupture Saturday, spilling up to 8,400 gallons of crude oil into the barranca. Officials, who haven’t been able to assess the spill because of the unstable land and weather, said the amount of oil spilled is probably less.

Most of the oil pooled near the site of the rupture, but some seeped down into the barranca and flowed toward the ocean.

Oil company officials said none of the oil reached the ocean, but crews spent Monday finishing an under-flow dam on the beach at Sanjon Road where the barranca ends. The dam is designed to catch oil or debris before it spills into the ocean, while allowing water to flow out.

*

There were no estimates on how long the cleanup will take because crews have been stalled by the inclement weather.

“It’s been kind of slow because of the rain,” said Greg Hardy, a spokesman for the cleanup effort, which is being led by Shell. “The safety of our personnel comes first, and when the ground dries out a bit we’ll be able to get up there and have a better idea of what exactly happened.”

Times staff writer Chris Chi and staff photographer Spencer Weiner contributed to this story.