Rains Cause Flooding, Accidents : Weather: Intense showers keep authorities and utilities busy. The storm is expected to dissipate today.

An intense storm that dropped nearly an inch of rain on Ventura County on Saturday, causing fender-benders and power outages, should dissipate today after morning showers, forecasters said.

Saturday’s semi-tropical system, which forecasters said had been hovering over the Pacific Ocean for several days before moving across Southern California this weekend, caused several minor traffic accidents and a power failure after lightning struck a transformer in Camarillo.

Another storm system from the Gulf of Alaska is expected to move into the region later this week, and could bring more rain Thursday, forecasters said. Highs today, the first day of spring, will be in the mid-60s to low 70s with cloudy skies.

The National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning for possible mud and debris slides in the canyon areas that burned during last October’s fires, but officials and nearby residents said the charred hillsides were not washed out by the brief but heavy rains.

The storm brought periods of heavy rain that caused minor flooding in some areas.

“We had a few areas in Camarillo that reported backed-up drains,” Lt. Gary Backman said. “We did have a considerable amount of alarms going off, which may have been due to power failures. It could have also been caused by the rain.”

The intense showers and lightning flashes kept law enforcement officials and power companies scrambling Saturday.

“We’re very busy,” said Southern California Edison spokesman Steven Conroy. “The lightning has caused small interruptions of service in some areas.”

A spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department said fire officials were busy Saturday morning responding to traffic accident calls but said that as the storm tapered off in the afternoon, so did the number of incidents.

One accident involving four vehicles on the Ventura Freeway in Thousand Oaks resulted in a woman being transported to the hospital and her dog rescued from her car by animal control.

Another, also on the Ventura Freeway near Rice Road in Oxnard, left two Camarillo residents shaken after their car spun out.

The rain caused some county events to be canceled, while others went ahead, rain or shine.

“It sounds like it rained the least here. The pavement’s dry,” said Brian Smith, a Lake Casitas park ranger. Smith said sporadic showers there didn’t dampen the spirits of those attending the Ojai Renaissance Festival.

Plans at Oxnard College to lay sod for another soccer field to be used by teams training for the upcoming World Cup were postponed, as were presentations for children at the Moorpark College Teaching Zoo.

“We’re about ready to float away,” zoo worker Amy Hopkins said. “It was just pouring.”

Hopkins said the animals, especially the tigers and mountain lions, were hiding indoors because of the wet weather. “They kind of come out and shake their paws, but that’s about it. They won’t come out when it rains.”

In Los Angeles, at least three people were killed in traffic accidents on slick streets.

The fast-moving series of thunder and lightning storms also interrupted electrical service to thousands of homes and briefly knocked out the power in the Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatch center, filling the facility with smoke.

A stretch of the Golden State Freeway was under 5 feet of water in East Los Angeles and closed to traffic at Atlantic Boulevard.

Times staff writer John Hurst contributed to this story.

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control District for the 24-hour period ending at 6 p.m. Saturday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.39 7.61 11.02 Casitas Dam 0.28 13.61 19.31 El Rio 0.63 9.29 12.50 Fillmore 0.47 9.66 15.70 Moorpark 0.83 8.30 12.01 Ojai 0.75 10.81 17.53 Upper Ojai 0.35 12.17 19.09 Oxnard 0.55 8.33 11.99 Piru 0.47 8.21 14.07 Santa Paula 0.98 10.93 14.72 Simi Valley 1.26 8.54 11.71 Thousand Oaks 0.59 7.40 12.55 Ventura Govt. Center 0.67 9.39 13.33