NORTH COUNTY -- Torrential, wind-driven, record-setting rain pummeled North County on Wednesday, causing power outages, flooded streets and buildings, and sending mud flowing through areas burned in last year's wildfires.

In an unusual week of storms, residents and emergency crews evacuated people, sandbagged homes, removed debris and cleared traffic collisions as they prepared for yet another day of wet and wild weather expected Thursday.

An electrical outage shut down Palomar College in San Marcos, but the college will be open Thursday.

Flooding forced evacuations at the Buena Vista Knolls Assisted Living Community complex in Vista and the Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center.

At the Vista retirement complex, 85-year-old resident Martha DaSilva was watching TV news reports about flash flooding in North County when she saw water start seeping under her patio door.

"It came so fast," said DaSilva, who was evacuated with her small white dog and almost 25 other residents. "It was like a river going by my door."

The second storm this week struck hard in North County, dumping nearly 2 inches of rain in some areas and a whopping 6.2 inches on Palomar Mountain.

Since Sunday morning, the mountain has received almost 12 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

Elsewhere in North County, Vista's rainfall Wednesday measured 1.88 inches; the Oceanside Harbor and San Diego Wild Animal Park, 1.6 inches each; Poway, 1.5; Ramona, 1.48; Carlsbad, 1.37; Rancho Bernardo, 1.28; Oceanside Harbor, 1.11; Fallbrook, 1.09, and Del Mar, 1 inch. An unofficial rainfall total of 1.35 inches was registered in Escondido, according to the National Weather Service.

"The rainfall amounts we've seen in some areas has been quite impressive," said Robert Balfour, fire weather forecaster at the National Weather Service in Rancho Bernardo. "We see at least two more storms coming in, in the next seven days."

Wind and rain

As wind gusts of up to 49 mph hit Camp Pendleton on Wednesday, heavy rain flooded several neighborhoods and homes in San Marcos and around Palomar College.

Those leaving the campus were not able to use the exit on Mission Avenue, however, because it was flooded. College Police Sgt. Vic So'oto said some cars stalled as they entered the flood waters.

San Marcos resident Susan Gomez was one of those drivers. Gomez said she panicked and got out of her car, but was immediately immersed in water up to her waist.

"I was terrified," Gomez said.

She said that a truck driver picked her up and drove her to a nearby gas station, while another driver pushed her car to the same spot.

Flash flood warnings about imminent flooding across San Diego County were often ignored as drivers tried to cross surging streams.

People in the flood-warning areas, which included much of North County, were urged to move to higher ground immediately and take immediate precautions to protect life and property if they live near streams and creeks.

Fire danger eases

As frightening as the flash flood warnings and waves of water and mud were at times, there was a silver lining in the black clouds.

With rain expected to continue into Friday morning, and two more storms possible next week in San Diego County, the U.S. Forest Service dropped its fire danger rating from extreme to moderate for the Cleveland National Forest.

After a tense fire season following last year's deadly October firestorms, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials were also considering reducing their fire crews in Southern California.

"It means that, for the first time in about five years, the fire danger is down to the point where we don't have to worry about it for awhile," said Rich Hawkins, fire chief for the Cleveland National Forest.

However, he agreed with CDF officials that a few hot, dry Santa Ana winds could create the same fire hazards that existed before the first storm struck on Sunday, bringing serious rain much sooner than usual to San Diego County.

Whether the wet weather will be enough to reduce the beefed-up fire crews that have staffed CDF stations in the county since last spring hadn't been decided yet at the agency's Sacramento headquarters.

Although firefighting crews will be scaled back starting Monday in the rest of the state, Southern California will continue to have peak season crews until this week's storms and incoming ones can be evaluated with the National Weather Service, said Karen Terrill, CDF spokeswoman.

"Every year, it's a balancing act for our chiefs," Terrill said. "You don't want to end fire season too soon, but as soon as we do reduce the firefighter numbers, it's a savings for the taxpayers."

Crashes, flooding close roads

That savings may help make up for some of the money taxpayers spent to help clear up more than 200 crashes during the day on flooded freeways and roads covered by California Highway Patrol officers, plus an unknown number of accidents on city streets. There were major backups on Interstates 5 and 15 in North County.

Highway 78 was flooded and virtually impassable in some areas between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

County road crews working 12-hour shifts day and night are trying to keep roadways open, but there were temporary closures everywhere.

Flooding shut down Woods Valley Road in Valley Center, where the Lake Wohlford and Cole Grade roads were also hit by water and mudslides.

Closed roads will be inspected and repaired before they are reopened, said Bill Polick, county public works spokesman. A lot of that depends on the often unpredictable rain, which has caused water to rise without warning.

San Marcos drenched

In San Marcos, residents battled back flood waters in the 1200 block of Rock Springs Road and along Cheryl Lane as Wednesday's storm dropped an unofficial 1.6 inches between 8 a.m. and midafternoon.

Leon Cleveland and Randy Pettitt, Cheryl Lane homeowners, worked with neighbor Kyle Beria to clear mud from a nearby ditch that prevented water from draining off their property.

At some points, Cleveland's home, which sits at the end of the road, was surrounded by up to 2 1/2 of muddy water. Cleveland said his garage had been inundated by about 8:30 a.m.

Beria said he began to help dig out the trench when he saw a rain-soaked Cleveland working on it by himself.

Cleveland and Beria said they have asked the city several times to clear the drainage ditch and take other measures to prevent water from overflowing their neighborhood. Cleveland said there is permanent mold on the left side of his home from prior floods.

"It's like this every year when it rains and they do nothing," Cleveland said. "Every time they say it's going to rain hard, we all get nervous."

Along Rock Springs Road, across the street from Woodland Park Middle School, many driveways were covered by several inches of water. Taking the day off from work to protect his home, Owain Jones spent the day vacuuming his garage and draining his yard to prevent water from seeping into the house.

"When it rains, I generally don't go to work," Jones said. "There is more water than I can handle."

Ramona worked together

Ramona resident Wally Kuebler, 79 and his wife Shirley, 76, knew they were in trouble when they awoke Wednesday to a muddy, ash-ridden waterfall coming over the retaining wall of their San Diego Country Estates home on Watt Road.

The retired couple, who have lived in Ramona for 12 years, said the large drain along the side of their house used to be able to handle the rain. But the water is unstoppable now that the once heavily vegetated hill behind the house was left barren by the Cedar wildfire a year ago.

"We have had some problems with flooding before, but not this bad," said Kuebler, who is recovering from back and knee surgery. "When it hit the side of the house, we knew it was beyond our control."

The Kueblers called their pastor, who called the Ramona Fire Relief Center. The nonprofit organization had been helping Ramona residents recover from the Cedar fire until a new cry for help came this week.

Director Bonnie Frede and other volunteers arrived at the Kueblers on Wednesday afternoon to stack sandbags behind the retaining wall and along the side of the stucco house.

"We are trying to get as many people as possible to help load up sandbags," Frede said, her red hair plastered to her head. "We are giving them out as fast as we can make them."

Frede said she has had about a dozen emergency requests for sandbags, but only has enough volunteers so far to help three senior citizens, who were considered top priority because of their physical limitations.

On Pappas and Rutherford roads, already hit with flooding by Sunday's storm, county road crews have been trying to sandbag homes against water running off fire-burned hills. The water and silt spilled over sandbag dams 3 to 4 feet high to flood four houses, Polick said.

Elsewhere in Ramona, residents were pulling together to help their neighbors despite flooded streets and parking lots, new potholes and traffic accidents that had witnesses standing on guardrails in the rain to help direct traffic.

To help with building or sandbags, call the Ramona Fire Relief Center at (760) 789-1158.

Encinitas mopping up

The rain brought its usual headaches to businesses along the western side of North Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas between La Costa Avenue and Leucadia Boulevard.

The low-lying stretch of highway collects runoff almost any time there is measurable rain. Fast-moving cars splash any pedestrians on the sidewalks and splatter mud on the fronts of stores nearby. Many of the parking lots and a small, grassy park at Leucadia Boulevard become ponds that must be pumped out by city firefighters.

Kelly Witzel, an employee at the Stepping Stones boutique and Yoga 101 studio, said firefighters brought a big pump truck and drained water from her parking lot Wednesday morning.

"I'm glad … because it's supposed to rain a lot this afternoon," she said, from a customer counter behind sandbagged front doors.

Business owners had sandbagged the building's doors, and firefighters had sandbagged the street curb.

"Everyone is taking preventative measures," Witzel said.

A half block down the highway, Nomad Ventures owner Bruce Damon kept a wary eye on his store's carpets and merchandise. He sells outdoor clothing, backpacking gear, mountaineering supplies and related products.

"We came pretty close to having the street water come in the front door," said Damon, as he eyed two small drains between the building and the sidewalk.

Like other shop owners, Damon said he would like to see the city do more to improve the area's drainage. He said the flooding is bad for business, because people stay away when it's wet.

Encinitas has spent $4 million on new storm drains and pipes for the area in recent years, though city officials say millions more are needed to eliminate the flooding.

Power returns

As nightfall approached, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. had restored power to almost all of 29,000 customers who had lost it Tuesday and Wednesday.

Company spokesman Peter Hidalgo said of the 7,500 customers still without electricity in the county by early afternoon Wednesday, power had been restored to all but 794 by 3 p.m.

"We have all available crews called in," Hidalgo said.

Most of the outages were caused by downed power lines hit by debris, such as falling trees or limbs, he said.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Operations Center was partially activated during the day. It was staffed with Emergency Planning Division personnel who were monitoring the storm's progress to help deputies cover any problems.

Sheriff's search and rescue volunteers were in the field with deputies to keep an eye out on the storm, which is expected to continue into tonight. Dry weather is predicted starting Friday afternoon through the weekend before another possible storm hits Tuesday.

"We want the public to remain alert to the possibility of flooding or other storm-related problems," Sheriff's Department spokesman Chris Saunders said.

Staff writers Phil Diehl, Yvette Urrea, Erin Massey, Tanya Rodrigues and freelance writer Jessica Musicar contributed to this story.