THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601220074
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Flooding on the Ohio River forced hundreds of people from their homes Sunday, while residents of flooded towns upstream in Pennsylvania and upstate New York scraped mud from soaked homes and historical monuments.
The past week's burst of flooding, snow, ice and cold has been blamed for at least 36 deaths from the Plains into New England. In upstate New York, five members of one family died when a washed-out road sent their car into a reservoir.
Officials in many areas had not yet fully measured the damage.
``It's like the first precinct to vote in New Hampshire for the presidential election. Those first returns don't tell you a heck of a lot,'' said Don Maurer of the New York state Office of Emergency Management.
President Clinton on Sunday declared Pennsylvania a disaster area because of the flooding.
The Ohio River crested Sunday at several spots along West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.
Wheeling Island, a low-lying, urban enclave of some 3,500 residents connected by bridge to Wheeling, W.Va., was 95 percent under water as the Ohio rose 10 feet out of its banks before beginning to recede. About 700 people fled the island.
Downstream, the Ohio was 3 feet above flood level Sunday at Parkersburg, W.Va., forcing more people from their homes, and it was expected to rise an additional 3 feet. Flood gates were closed in levees protecting Parkersburg, Huntington and other cities along the river.
On the river's opposite bank, about 3,000 people had been evacuated in eastern Ohio's Belmont and Jefferson counties.
Flooding had largely abated and cleanup was under way Sunday elsewhere in West Virginia and in much of Pennsylvania, the western edge of New Jersey and New York state. An estimated 100,000 residents of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., were forced from their homes for more than 10 hours Saturday.
In West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, about 60 miles northwest of Washington, the Potomac and Shenandoah rose high out of their steep banks at Harpers Ferry to flood some of the buildings at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Gauges on the two rivers did not work; officials estimated the Shenandoah was 13 feet above its normal banks.
The rising Potomac closed major roads in the nation's capital, including those leading to the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was not damaged, but was closed all day.
In central Pennsylvania, several bridges and roads were still closed in Harrisburg, where the Susquehanna River had begun falling slowly. Amtrak service between Harrisburg and Philadelphia was cut off by flooding east of the city.
Downstream from Harrisburg along the Susquehanna, about 650 residents of Port Deposit, Md., were out of their homes Sunday because of flooding below the Conowingo Dam. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dwayne Johnson, left, and Mark Poskaitis paddle a canoe through the
Old Town section of Alexandria, Va., Sunday. Corkie Morrill, right,
wades to higher ground with her dog, Duffie. Melting snow, warm
weather and heavy rains combined to make the Potomac overflow.
by CNB