Last month Santa Paula Airport lost about a third of its runway when the raging waters of the Santa Clara River destroyed a portion of the bank that cut into the runway. Reopened for restricted use in recent weeks, the airport was protected from Tuesday’s swollen river waters by rock jetties strategically built to avert the water from the bank.Mason said that the Ventura County Watershed Protection District oversaw the project by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, who “got into the picture through the efforts of Rep. Elton Gallegly. I was told that the channeling contractor is now placing stakes” to get to work on a sandbar that formed during the January and February storms and redirected the waters into the bank on the south side of the runway. Mason said that bulldozing in the channel is scheduled to begin Monday.In downtown Los Angeles, Tuesday’s rainfall floated the area into second place for a rain record. The 34.95 inches now recorded in LA is inching closer to the all time record of 38.18 inches of rain that fell on the City of Angels during 1883-1884.In Los Angeles, the normal rainfall to date is about 13.26 inches. Santa Paula usually would have 14.47 inches of rain to date, and has experienced almost three-times that amount this rain season.
SP tops 40 inches of rain for season after 3.11 inch storm
March 25, 2005
Santa Paula News
What had been downgraded to a mild storm turned into another onslaught of rain on Tuesday that exceeded 3 inches in Santa Paula and brought neighboring Los Angeles County closer to an all-time record rainfall.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesWhat had been downgraded to a mild storm turned into another onslaught of rain on Tuesday that exceeded 3 inches in Santa Paula and brought neighboring Los Angeles County closer to an all-time record rainfall. Just shy of 3 p.m. on March 22, Santa Paula had already received 1.27 inches of rain from the storm that had started lightly in mid-morning and built in intensity. At one point the rain fell at the rate of 3.35 inches an hour, and finally dumped at total of 3.11 inches of rain throughout the day, according to SP Weather.Forecasters had said that the storm was expected to bring one-half to 1 inch of rain. Tuesday’s storm pushed the Santa Paula area over the 40-inch point since the rain season began July 1. The total rainfall in Santa Paula is 41.74 inches and could go higher before the end of the rain season on June 30.The city and surrounding areas damaged in previous storms held their own during Tuesday’s downpour. “We survived yesterday’s rain,” pilot Pete Mason said Wednesday.
