Aid Sought for Crop Damage : Storms: Santa Paula farmers desperately seek help for their lost produce and land. But county officials say coffers are empty.

Appealing to the county for aid, Santa Paula farmers who grow citrus and avocados along the Santa Clara River say they have lost nearly $2 million in crops and land to the rain-swollen river, which has shifted off course by at least 300 feet.

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“We are desperate,” said Randall R. Axell, one of about 20 farmers who attended an emergency meeting Friday. Axell said he has lost about 250 orange trees and one acre of land in the past few weeks.

“If the county helps us we will be able to save our crops and land,” he said. “If they don’t, we are about to lose everything.”

But Ventura County officials say they have no money to help.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee told the group that the county is operating on a tight budget and that it, too, is caught in a web of bureaucracy. She said the county is one of about six agencies that have a say in the river’s fate.

“I am not here to tell you that we can give you money to take care of the problem,” Kildee said. “We will do our best to work with you within the economic constraints that we have.”

The torrential rains earlier this month not only flooded the river but caused massive erosion on its banks, washing away an estimated 100 acres of land and wiping out more than 1,000 oranges and lemon trees, farmers said.

“It really makes me angry when our whole lives are going down the drain and no one wants to do anything about it,” said Bobbi Kaslow, who had nearly 500 orange trees and three acres of land washed away by the river.

Kildee said she would contact Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) to request emergency aid for the four-mile-long stretch of river. The damaged area, which begins at the 12th Street Bridge in Santa Paula and extends west toward the ocean, was thrown off course in places where the water overflowed and washed away as much as 150 feet of soil on each side.

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Farmers agree with county officials that the best way to solve the problem would be for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore the river’s course and shore up its banks.

The farmers would be responsible for picking up the estimated $1 million to repair the damage, officials said. But farmers say the cost is prohibitive and it is difficult to obtain permission from federal authorities to allow the Corps of Engineers to do the work.

F.H. Malzacher, a farmer who grows 30 acres of citrus and avocados near the river, blamed the county for the farmers’ loss. He said the county has failed to keep the upper river above the damaged stretch free of debris, contributing to the erosion.

Malzacher said he lost an estimated $50,000 worth of crops in the recent flooding.

During the recent rains, the river diverted from its normal course because two islands in the center of the river prevented the overflow of water from staying within the river’s banks.

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Pushed to the sides by the islands, the water flowed off course, turning as much as 90 degrees in some areas, Malzacher said.

One of the agencies from which farmers must obtain permission is the state Fish and Game Department, Malzacher said. But state and game officials have argued that the islands should not be removed because they are a natural habitat for endangered species, Malzacher said.

“If there ever was any wildlife on those islands, (it is) all gone, washed by the flooding,” Malzacher said.

Fish and game officials could not be reached for comment.

Farmers have also argued that if any of the pipelines from 15 oil wells along the river erupt, the oil would contaminate the water and eventually flow into the ocean.

“If one of the pipelines for the oil wells wash away, we will have a countywide problem,” said Dick Dickenson, who is on the board of directors for the Santa Paula Airport. The airport is situated along the river and has also been threatened by the flooding.

“Nobody wants to take responsibility for the damage,” Dickenson said.