The weekend wind and rain caused power failures throughout the region, but none of the flooding many had feared.

Saturday’s 2.8 inches of rain broke the old Rhode Island record for a March 8 rainfall of 1.83 inches, set in 1933. By midday yesterday, the National Weather Service had lifted its flood warnings for the Blackstone and Pawtuxet rivers. Both rivers crested slightly above flood stage, but the weather service said they were back under their flood levels by noon. Some minor flooding in lowland areas along the waterways had been expected, the service said.

Elise Delbarone, spokeswoman for National Grid, said at its worst point, the storm knocked out electrical power to about 5,000 customers in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

She said that number had been winnowed to 2,000 by yesterday morning but that new failures were occurring as damaged branches fell and took out other power lines. She said late yesterday afternoon the company estimated it had restored power to all but 800 customers.

Police departments said they received isolated reports of downed trees and flooded basements but did not experience any serious storm-related incidents.

The Cranston police said they received some calls about neighborhood flooding from the Fletcher Street area, along the Johnston town line and near the Pocasset River. That area often floods after heavy storms.

The Blackstone River, because it drains from a large area in Massachusetts, takes longer to reach flood stage after a storm. As rain that fell in Massachusetts drained into the streams that feed the Worcester-to-Providence waterway, levels rose but not to where they posed serious problems.

Lincoln’s Lonsdale Bleachery complex, along the river not far from the site of the former Lonsdale Drive-In, is often flooded when the river rises. Part of the parking lots in the complex held large puddles yesterday afternoon, but the river was still within its banks.

In Cumberland, the Hope Global parking lot near the Martin Street bridge was another usual casualty for Blackstone flooding, but while isolated parts of two parking lots had large pools of water, most of the property was dry.

Along the Blackstone River Bikeway, water levels in the Blackstone Canal had risen in several places to within few inches of the bike path by late yesterday morning.

jhill@projo.com