Storms Land Weakened Punch : Weather: Emergency services personnel remain on standby. Rainfall marks the start of a seven- to 10-day wet period.

Twin storm fronts that were expected to slam the coast Wednesday instead merged and slowed down, dampening but not dousing Ventura County.

By 5 p.m., less than an inch of rain had fallen on most parts of the county, mocking meteorologists’ earlier predictions that a combination of the Alaskan and Hawaiian storm systems would dump three to five inches of rain on the region by today.

“The tropical system . . . began breaking up and becoming disorganized” Tuesday, said Terry Schaeffer, agricultural meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “That weakened. They are getting heavier rains in Riverside and Central California.”

Despite the relative lack of rain here, a National Weather Service urban flood warning included Ventura County, as well as the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara.

Wednesday’s precipitation marked the start of a seven- to 10-day wet-weather cycle, which is expected to bring more rain off and on over the weekend, Schaeffer said.

Meanwhile, Ventura County’s office of emergency services remained on standby, Assistant Director Wendy Haddock said.

“We’re not changing any plans, we’re still in the ready mode,” Haddock said. “If we need to activate, we will activate. We’re kind of sitting and waiting. It’s kind of nice to have everything prepared and set to go. . . . It’s been a good exercise for us.”

Most farmers welcomed the rains, particularly in smaller than predicted amounts, said David Buettner, chief deputy agricultural commissioner for Ventura County.

“It’s going to be terrific for us,” Buettner said. “It’s going to make it much better for growers all around, just enough to give them a good drenching.”

The only farmers that could be hurt by the rain are those few who are growing strawberries and flowers, which could be damaged by steady wet weather, Buettner said. The rain also could postpone harvest of those crops until drier weather returns.

Of the downgraded forecast, Buettner said, “there’s no controlling Mother Nature. Whether you forecast it or not, there’s no way to pinpoint these things to a T. We’d rather be prepared--just like the earthquake predictions they had two months ago--and have it not show up.”

County flood control officials said they were expecting no more than 1 1/4 inches of rain on the coast and just under three inches in the mountains through today.

The Sheriff’s Department, however, repeated helicopter flyovers of the Ventura and Santa Clara river bottoms to warn homeless people camping there to move to higher ground in case river levels rise substantially.

Some homeowners who went to county fire stations for free sand and sandbags to prepare for possible flooding were surprised to be turned away. Thousand Oaks resident Jay Miller said he tried to get supplies from the Arboles station on Tuesday, but was told sand and bags would be available only when flooding actually occurs.

“Of course, it’s too late by then to do anything about it,” said Miller, whose hillside terrace began slipping into his pool during last February’s heavy downpours.

Department policy is to restrict supplies to situations where life is endangered or property is about to be flooded, county Fire Chief Darryll Ralston said.

Otherwise “we wouldn’t have any left when the storm hits,” he said. “Most take a Band-Aid approach--get three bags from the Fire Department at taxpayer expense and don’t worry about it again until next year. That is not the approach we would like them to take.”

Sand and sandbags can be bought from commercial building supply companies, he said.

Times correspondent Kay Saillant contributed to this report.

L.A. STORM STORY: B7

County Rainfall

Here are rain statistics from 8 a.m. Tuesday until 7 p.m. Wednesday from the Ventura County Flood Control District. Rainfall since Oct. 1, the start of the official rain year, is an estimate based on computer updates.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location since Tuesday since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.39 4.90 4.14 Casitas Dam 0.99 8.30 9.53 El Rio 0.66 5.12 6.78 Fillmore 0.92 6.91 8.69 Moorpark 0.73 5.13 5.38 Ojai 0.90 7.14 9.26 Upper Ojai 1.26 7.59 9.01 Oxnard 0.65 4.90 5.81 Piru n.a. 5.81 n.a. Santa Paula 0.87 6.25 7.79 Simi Valley 0.93 4.88 6.67 Thousand Oaks 0.81 5.21 5.90 Ventura Govt. Center 0.64 5.44 7.10