Torrential rains battered Ventura County on Sunday, overflowing creeks and rivers, spewing mud and debris across flooded roads, forcing evacuations, stranding motorists in cars and destroying crops.

An official with the National Weather Service's Oxnard office could not say whether the storm rivaled or exceeded the El Nino downpours of 1998-99. But rain will continue to pound the county with a few slight breaks until Tuesday night, said Bruce Rockwell, weather specialist.

More flooding is possible today, particularly near California State University, Channel Islands; parts of Moorpark near Campus Park Drive; and Highway 101 at the Santa Clara River bridge, said Eric Nishimoto, spokesman with the Sheriff's Department.

"The river is rising rapidly," Nishimoto said, adding that closing down Highway 101 at the bridge was a possibility. "If we receive as much rain as we've been getting, that might be a possible problem."

Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley suffered little damage in a storm that punished almost every other area of the county, said Scott Holder, a county hydrologist.

Fillmore, Piru and Moorpark were hit hardest because of their proximity to the October 2003 wildfires. The conflagration scorched nearby land, robbing it of vegetation needed to stabilize soil and slow stormwater runoff, Holder said.

County officials on Sunday could not put a dollar estimate on damages.

Three people have died as a result of the storm. Andrei Natali, 20, of Ojai died Saturday evening while trying to cross Matilija Creek. Maria Guadalupe Castro, 22, of Newbury Park was killed Saturday morning in a single-car crash on northbound Highway 23. Edward Mariano, 23, of Oxnard, was killed a day earlier when he lost control of his vehicle on Fifth Street east of Las Posas Road between Oxnard and Camarillo.

Evacuations ordered

Around midnight Saturday, authorities ordered residents of a homeless encampment at Emma Wood State Park to leave, said Kim Devine, a staff member with the Turning Point Foundation.

Ventura River waters flooded the park and nearby roads by Highway 101 on Sunday morning, said David Laak, a county hydrologist. The river peaked at 6:02 a.m. with water careening down the swollen channel at 32,349 cubic feet per second, according to a county Web site.

Most of the camp's residents checked into a Motel 6 because it allowed pets, Devine said. Tents and other belongings at the encampment were not washed away because it sits on a raised knoll, Devine said.

Authorities closed off the Main Street bridge over the river and near the park, shutting off access to a nearby Highway 101 onramp on the city's western edge. Earlier that day, more than a dozen people in rain slickers crowding under umbrellas stood atop that bridge to gawk at the raging muddy waters below.

Authorities also ordered evacuations at the El Dorado mobile home park in Fillmore, several homes on Nye Road in Ojai, and Oak Park County Park, where several people live year round, Nishimoto said.

The storm hit the small town of Fillmore hard, prompting evacuations of about 500 people, shutting down major roads and setting off mud and debris slides. Floodwaters washed over Highway 23, submerging an equestrian center and a farm run by the Fillmore Unified School District.

On the east side of town, authorities ordered the evacuation at El Dorado mobile home park shortly before noon. Even then some wouldn't leave, so officials went back to roust them out at 4 p.m. as Pole Creek came within 6 inches of overflowing, said city engineer Bert Rapp.

Authorities encouraged residents of the senior citizen mobile home park to stay overnight at an evacuation center near Fillmore High School.

Public schools in Fillmore and Piru will be closed today, said Mario Contini, superintendent of the Fillmore Unified School District. He said the evacuations and road closures prompted the decision to shut down the district of 4,000 students for what he hoped would be just one day.

"In general, conditions look really bad," Contini said.

Oxnard Police Department officials ordered campers at McGrath State Beach to evacuate Sunday morning, Sgt. Mike Adair said.

Water and mudslides damaged at least two homes in an upscale Camarillo neighborhood after debris jammed a city storm drain.

David Garcia said up to 8 inches of water flooded his garage. "My garage and (the area outside) my house is a mess," said the 42-year-old real estate agent, adding it was the first time his home has flooded since moving there in 1999.

Shelters set up

Officials directed displaced residents to four American Red Cross shelters: Nordoff High School, 1401 Maricopa Highway, Ojai; Pleasant Valley Recreation and Parks District Community Center, 1605 Burnley St., Camarillo; Fillmore Veterans' Memorial Building, 511 Second St.; and Moorpark High School, 4500 N. Tierra Rejada Road.

Mudslides were also reported in Moorpark at Walnut Street near Casey Road and Walnut Canyon at Everett Street.

Authorities closed Highway 126 just west of Piru after a 4- to 6-foot pile of mud left the road impassable, Nishimoto said. All roads in and out of Piru were closed by 1 p.m., Nishimoto said. Later, authorities extended the Highway 126 closure from Fillmore to Los Angeles County.

Piru resident Janet Bergamo said most of her yard was ankle deep in water Sunday morning after an open nursery field across the street became saturated.

"There's a lot of water pouring off that property," Bergamo said, a resident since 1973. "It's coming straight down at us. This is the most water I've had in my yard since 1973, and we've lived through three good floods."

Ankle- to knee-deep water and mud covered a block of Main Street, east of Orchard Street, Bergamo said. Water flooded several garages and water-heater sheds.

Other road closures included Victoria Avenue in Oxnard between Olivas Park Drive and Gonzales Road; Highway 118 at Somis Road and near Mesa Elementary School; University Drive near Lewis Road, near Camarillo; Highway 33 in Ojai, north from Friends Ranch; portions of Highway 150 between Santa Paula and Santa Barbara County; Grimes Canyon Road, north of Moorpark; and Pacific Coast Highway from Neptune's Net restaurant to Las Posas Road, authorities said.

Potrero Road is the only thoroughfare open to enter or leave Cal State, Channel Islands, university officials said in a media statement. But even Potrero's access could be threatened by more storms, officials said.

It's unclear when any of the roads will reopen, Nishimoto said.

Rescue teams at work

Heavy rains stranded six unidentified adults about 9 a.m. on a sandbar in the middle of the Ventura River near Highway 101 in Ventura. A Sheriff's Department helicopter lowered a "swift-water" swimmer to the four men and two women, who were hoisted into the chopper. No one was injured.

A man and woman were safely escorted to shore after their pickup truck had become half submerged in raging waters on a rural canyon road north of Ventura.

The couple's truck had become stuck about 3:30 p.m., trapped in fast-flowing, debris-strewn waters overtopping Canada Larga Road, about a quarter-mile from Highway 33 and just east of where the road crosses Canada Larga Creek.

Witnesses said the vehicle had driven around a flood-warning barricade at the creek bridge only moments before it became partially submerged.

Swift-water rescue swimmers escorted the couple, one at a time and wearing life preservers, across nearly waist-deep waters. Each person was attached to a rescue line that had been secured from the shore to the vehicle.

Once on dry land, the couple shared a hug, but declined to be interviewed. The woman said they "were just too embarrassed." It's unclear where the couple was going or if they live in the sparsely populated valley between Ventura and Casitas Springs.

A California Highway Patrol dispatcher said the agency was inundated with injury accidents but could not provide a precise number.

Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail estimated that several thousand acres of crops were damaged by the relentless downpour that tapered off to showers in west Ventura County on Sunday afternoon.

"We're losing some citrus and avocado due to erosion," McPhail said. "The row crops can't take any more water, so we're going to have some significant damage."

Damage estimates will not be available until today, McPhail said.

In the 24 hours ending at 7 p.m. Sunday, the storm had dumped 11.65 inches of rain on Nordhoff Ridge, 7.87 inches at Matilija Dam, 7.20 inches at Canada Larga Road, 7.68 inches at the Sespe Creek near Fillmore, 4.25 at the Fillmore Fish Hatchery, 3.82 inches at the Ventura County Government Center and 3 inches at the Oxnard Civic Center.

Rainfalls were somewhat lighter at first in east Ventura County, but picked up later in the day with 5.47 inches at Moorpark College.

-- Staff writers Kevin Clerici, Kathleen Wilson and Erinn Hutkin contributed to this report.