Flood Watch Reissued for Lowlands : Weather: Crews clean up after the deluge and prepare for a new storm today. Rains are expected to diminish by Sunday.

Flood warnings for low-lying areas of Ventura County were reissued Friday as residents and workers cleaned up from a two-day deluge and braced for another storm due early today.

Forecasters called for up to three inches of rain today and a chance of showers on Sunday.

“The storm looks quite strong,” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which makes forecasts for The Times. “It should diminish a bit by Sunday.”

The sheriff’s office of emergency services issued a flood watch Friday afternoon for the Ventura Beach RV Resort, Point Mugu Naval Air Station, low-lying areas along the Ventura River and Calleguas Creek near Camarillo State Hospital.

“Countywide, the ground is totally saturated and we are expecting large runoffs,” said Vicki Musgrove, a hydrologist with the Ventura County Flood Control District.

Flood warnings were lifted Thursday afternoon. But in anticipation of weekend rains, the county Fire Department formed two task forces equipped with bulldozers, sandbags and other flood-fighting gear, said spokesman Bill Reynolds. “There is potential for more flooding over the weekend,” he added. “The ground is pretty wet.”

California Department of Transportation workers repaired a bridge over San Antonio Creek in Ojai and organized a special around-the-clock surveillance team to monitor rain levels around the county, said Dave Servaes, Caltrans regional manager.

“There could be a lot of problems,” Servaes said. “But we’re set up so that we’ll be ready for whatever happens.”

After Thursday’s steady showers, Friday’s rainfall consisted of scattered but sometimes heavy downpours that were blamed for a few minor traffic accidents.

At the Casa del Norte trailer park on Central Avenue in Camarillo, workers were trying to stave off a repeat of the flooding Thursday that swept across a cabbage patch and inundated the park with up to three feet of water.

“We’ve got people out there now building sandbag diversion dams and we’re patrolling 24 hours a day,” said Dan Greeley, Camarillo’s director of engineering services. “We’re as ready as we can be, but we simply can’t stop the water from coming.”

Resident Elma Burton, 83, who said the flooding kept her out of the park Thursday afternoon, vowed not to leave her home. “If it keeps raining like it has been, I don’t know what will happen,” the 13-year resident said. “But I’m going to stay home. I’m not going anywhere.”

Meanwhile, many farmers, who have already sustained serious damage, are gearing up for another hit.

Strawberry farmers stand to lose the most during the rains, said Rex Laird, a spokesman for the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “They’ve done everything they can and now they just have to deal with it,” Laird said.

Last February’s heavy rains caused a 30% reduction in the Oxnard Plain’s strawberry harvest, said Teresa Thorne, a spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Board. “If things continue this way,” she said, “this year might be the same thing all over again.”

Strawberry yields are already down slightly from last year, Thorne said.

Other crops have also been afflicted. By Friday afternoon, assessed flood damage at the Newhall Land and Farming Co. exceeded $1 million, said spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. The most severe blow was the loss of a 15- to 20-acre lemon orchard straddling the Santa Clara River near Piru, said.

“It’s not a pretty sight,” Lauffer said. “The trees got washed right down the river.’

Other damage included flooded levies and embankments, eroded fields and felled power lines, Lauffer said, adding that laws restricting changes along riverbeds have impeded Newhall’s flood-prevention efforts.

Although his crops have escaped major flood damage, Chris Taylor, vice president of farming at the Limoneira Co., fears that if the wet weather continues, his citrus and avocados will decay before harvest. “We’re right on the verge,” Taylor said. “We’ve had enough rain that the fungus is going to start spreading.”

Lake Casitas, the county’s largest reservoir, rose to within a foot of the dam’s spillway, said Steve Wickstrum, an engineer with the Casitas Municipal Water District. The overflow would enter Coyote Creek, a tributary of the Ventura River.

Spillage is not necessarily a cause for alarm, Wickstrum said. When the dam last overflowed seven years ago, “a few chicken coops got wet and that’s about it.”

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 9 p.m. Friday from the Ventura County Flood Control District. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location since Wednesday since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 2.11 16.19 8.84 Casitas Dam 3.16 25.54 15.60 El Rio 2.71 16.61 9.97 Fillmore 3.56 22.64 12.62 Moorpark 3.04 18.16 9.62 Ojai 2.86 26.61 14.06 Upper Ojai 5.35 28.96 15.22 Oxnard 3.00 15.46 9.61 Piru 3.54 22.91 11.27 Santa Paula 3.68 20.29 11.79 Simi Valley 3.43 19.09 9.29 Thousand Oaks 3.96 20.45 10.04 Ventura Govt. Center 3.06 17.19 10.63