DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997             TAG: 9703120493

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   30 lines

LOCAL GROUPS SEND SUPPLIES TO DISASTER VICTIMS

Anheuser-Busch's Virginia brewery has come to the aid of flood victims, cranking out 2.4 million 12-ounce cans of drinking water.

After getting a plea from Red Cross officials, the plant switched to water for five straight eight-hour shifts, filling 100,000 cases with white cans showing the Anheuser-Busch blue eagle logo.

``It's just the regular city water we use in our brewing process,'' said Dennis Nesbitt, assistant plant manager.

The 100,000 cases of water were sent to Kentucky, where flooding has contaminated wells and water treatment facilities.

Five trailers were unloaded Tuesday outside the National Guard facility near Greenville, Ky., and another 42 trailers were headed to Winchester, Ky.

ALSO TUESDAY, Operation Blessing International of Virginia Beach said it had sent three tractor-trailer loads of relief supplies to states hit hard by flooding and tornadoes last week.

One truckload was sent to Arkansas, one to West Virginia and one to Kentucky.

The storms damaged more than 1,000 homes and killed 25 people along their paths, from Clark County in southwestern Arkansas to Greene County in northeastern Arkansas.

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