Killer Storm Thunders Across Area : Weather: A farm worker is swept to his death in swift-moving Conejo Creek as up to five inches of rain falls on the county.

Torrential rains swept across Ventura County Monday, swelling streams and other waterways and drowning a farm worker who had been washed off a tractor into a raging creek between Camarillo and Thousand Oaks.

Rescue workers at 4:15 p.m. found the body of 49-year-old Oxnard resident Jose C. Valdivia Romero half a mile downstream from where he had been swept underwater 2 1/2 hours earlier in Conejo Creek.

Monday’s storm brought up to five inches of rain in parts of the county, awakening many residents with a spectacular show of thunder and lightning, and turning normally parched stream beds like Conejo Creek into swift-moving currents.

Forecasters predicted a chance of showers today with clearing tonight and no further rain until at least the weekend.

Although Monday’s heavy rain caused some flooding and a spate of minor traffic accidents, authorities in the county reported no serious incidents except for the drowning in Conejo Creek.

A family member at the scene of the accident said Valdivia was the foreman of a local nursery. According to Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate, Valdivia was employed by Skyline Flowers in Oxnard.

Valdivia and 64-year-old Oxnard resident Angel Magdaleno Barrios had been working in one of the agricultural fields adjacent to the creek when they attempted to cross it on a tractor about 12:40 p.m., said Sandi Wells, Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman. Waters gushing at more than 30 m.p.h. flipped the vehicle.

“The water was high enough that it covered the tractor,” Wells said. “When firefighters got on scene they found one person clinging to a tree.”

The older man had clung to bushes for 45 minutes until a helicopter from the county’s search and rescue team lifted him to safety. Suffering from hypothermia, he was taken to Pleasant Valley Hospital for treatment.

But it took more than another hour for the helicopter crew and 23 divers in wet suits to locate the body of Valdivia in the muddy, swirling waters. He was found pinned under a large branch downstream, deputies said.

An owner of a nursery adjacent to the creek said the waterway cuts directly across a broad field used for growing flowers.

Farm workers generally cross the waterway by driving their tractors into the creek and up the other side, said Joe Maravilla, an owner of Highwest Nursery.

“Usually it’s a relatively dry creek,” she said of the 20-foot-wide stream bed that flows into Calleguas Creek.

Elsewhere, a sheriff’s rescue team was called about 9:30 p.m. Monday to assist two men who apparently became stuck in their pickup truck when they tried to cross San Antonio Creek in Oak View, officials said.

The men, whose names were not available, were not in any immediate danger, said Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Gullon. Their pickup truck apparently stalled when they tried to cross the creek at its crossing with East Old Creek Road.

Thunderstorms and heavy showers swelled other creeks and reservoirs across the county

In Westlake, Sharlene Weston watched Sunday night as the howling wind blew several plexiglass window panes out of the atrium of her home on man-made Westlake Lake.

“I thought the wind was going to pick up the house and blow it away,” she said. “That rain turned our little lake into an ocean.”

Kathy Dahms, a Westlake Village resident, said the booming thunder and torrential downpours reminded her of Midwestern storms.

“It wasn’t like Southern California, where it just drizzles all day long,” she said. “Fortunately, our storm drains are good.”

But residents along Santa Ana Boulevard in Oak View weren’t so lucky.

At least two households reported flooding about 9 a.m. after debris clogged the drain for Live Oak Creek, which flows under the boulevard.

Kandee Riddle, 44, said she saw it coming.

“I just happened to look out the window and I saw the creek start to rise,” she said. “Within a matter of five minutes, it started to come over the road and down into our yard.” Authorities brought in a bulldozer to clear a path for the rising water.

Oak View, Ojai and Meiners Oaks got the heaviest rainfall: between 3 and 5 inches by Monday afternoon.

Camarillo received the least rain, 1.53 inches by 2 p.m, while most other cities received 2 to 3 inches.

County flood control officials said there had been a threat of flooding at Marr Diversion Channel in the east end of Simi Valley.

By Monday afternoon, Lake Piru was spilling over its dam into the Santa Clara River at the rate of 1,600 cubic feet per second, said Dolores Taylor, division engineer for the county Flood Control Department.

Taylor predicted that huge Lake Casitas southwest of Ojai would spill its dam within a few weeks, possibly in a few days. If so, it will be the lake’s first overflow since 1986.

Lake Casitas was 561 feet high at 5 p.m. Monday, just six feet shy of its maximum water level of 567 feet, Taylor said.

If it overflows, Lake Casitas will empty into the Ventura River, possibly raising the river level, Taylor said. And residents in the area would be notified about any need to move vehicles or other property in harm’s way.

The Ventura River overflowed its banks last February, flooding the adjacent Ventura RV Resort. It showed no signs of a repeat performance Monday.

But city fire officials chose to exercise caution, asking the recreational vehicle park’s owners to evacuate their 50 tenants until at least today.

The storm sent a cascade of water flowing over the Ventura Freeway near Solimar Beach, forcing California Highway Patrol cars to escort caravans of vehicles through the water. The rain also contributed to numerous traffic accidents, as motorists slipped and skidded in sometimes blinding showers.

The CHP reported 17 minor, storm-related traffic accidents on state-owned roads between about 6 a.m. and 2 p.m.--about a dozen more accidents than usual.

CHP spokeswoman Staci Morse said motorists don’t adjust their driving to the slick, sometimes flooded roads.

“Unfortunately they don’t slow down,” Morse said. “And with mud on some of the roadways, it makes the problem even worse.”

The county’s strawberry growers, those with the most vulnerable crop, were prepared for the heavy downpours.

Although the pounding drops damaged some ripe fruit, accurate forecasters gave farmers plenty of time to prepare for the rain. Over the weekend, growers picked most of the mature berries and sprayed plants with anti-mold fungicide.

The Deardorff Jackson Ranch in Oxnard lost about $15,000 worth of berries on Monday, but “in the general scheme of the season, that’s not too serious,” Jamie Deardorff said.

“We were as prepared as we could be,” said Mike Conroy of Conroy Farms in Oxnard. “Such a rain can be beneficial in the long run.”

Times staff writer Sara Catania and correspondents Kay Saillant and Patrick McCartney contributed to this article.

RELATED STORY: Storm batters Southland. A1

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from 8 a.m. Sunday to 2 p.m. Monday from the Ventura County Flood Control District. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location since Sunday since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 1.53 15.64 7.95 Casitas Dam 3.54 26.19 13.79 El Rio 3.12 17.13 8.81 Fillmore 2.69 21.86 11.17 Moorpark 2.08 17.20 8.61 Ojai 2.83 27.42 12.36 Upper Ojai 4.96 29.20 13.30 Oxnard 2.12 14.69 8.49 Piru 2.54 22.08 10.04 Santa Paula 3.11 20.30 10.36 Simi Valley 3.11 18.77 8.28 Thousand Oaks 2.54 19.13 8.92 Ventura Govt. Center 3.39 17.71 9.39