
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990                   TAG: 9006150835
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SHADYSIDE, OHIO                                LENGTH: Short

OHIO FLOODING KILLS 7, LEAVES DOZENS MISSING

Thunderstorms swept through central and eastern Ohio, causing flooding that killed at least seven people, left dozens missing and forced hundreds of others from their homes, officials said today.

The worst destruction was around Shadyside, an Appalachian Mountain foothill town of about 4,000, where authorities said a raging Ohio River tributary knocked homes off their foundations and washed away a bar filled with people.

Temporary morgues were set up at Bellaire City Hospital and a funeral home in Shadyside. Four bodies were brought to the hospital from the Shadyside area, hospital spokesman Lawrence England said.

England said the four bodies were taken to the Bauknecht Funeral Home in Shadyside. Patty Valloric, director of the funeral home, said a total of seven bodies had been brought there.

The Shadyside Fire Department set up a command center at the Jefferson Elementary School to coordinate rescue efforts.

Command center spokeswoman Karen Bovek said officials had no estimate of the death toll. Authorities were searching for victims in rural areas.

"You're talking miles and miles of country roads that haven't been gotten to yet," she said. "It's a disaster here."

Shadyside is in Belmont County, a mostly hilly, rural area in eastern Ohio.

Belmont County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Judy Phillips said a Shadyside bar full of people was washed away when water caved in the back wall. Two people were accounted for, she said.

Shadyside Fire Chief Mark Badia said rescuers pulled people from three cars in Wegee Creek, which flows through Shadyside and into the Ohio River.

by CNB