First Snow Falls in Rockies; Flooding Hits Michigan : Heat Continues Its Grip on East, Plains : from

The East Coast and Plains states sizzled Friday in the third day of a record heat wave that freed students from stifling classrooms, while snow fell in the Rockies.

Thunderstorms caused widespread flooding in Michigan, damaging thousands of homes and causing an estimated $4.7 million in damage.

Sweltering heat baked the Washington area for the third day, with highs in the mid-90s. The mercury broke 15-year-old records earlier this week at 95 degrees, and forecasters predicted highs near 100 for the weekend.

Not Much Relief Seen

“I don’t see much of a break in the weather for a while,” a National Weather Service spokesman said. “It’s going to be hot and dusty right into next week.”

Schools were closed in some areas of the East and the central and southern Plains, and in many other districts, students were dismissed early to escape the afternoon heat.

In the northern Rockies, the problem was not the heat but the cold, as parts of the Idaho and Montana mountains got their first snowfall of the season.

East Glacier, Mont., received two inches of snow, with greater accumulations higher in Glacier National Park. Forecasters predicted more than a foot of snow above 5,000 feet, with heavy rainfall at lower elevations.

The cool, wet weather was a boon to firefighters battling the 31,150-acre Butte fire in east-central Idaho’s Salmon National Forest. The dousing helped firefighters contain the stubborn blaze, which has burned since July 20, allowing many of the weary fire crews to go home, said Jim Stone, a spokesman for the preserve.

Michigan Hit by Rain

Severe thunderstorms dumped up to 7.5 inches of rain on east-central Michigan early Friday, pushing the Flint River to 16.8 feet, or 5.8 feet above flood level, before it began receding.

Gov. James J. Blanchard toured the area by helicopter, issued a disaster declaration for Genesee and Saginaw counties and said that he will seek federal disaster aid. Officials in the two counties and Flint estimated damage at $4.7 million.

The storms hit hardest in Genesee County, about 60 miles north of Detroit, where about 10,000 homes were damaged.

The storms also knocked out power to 62,000 utility customers in southern Michigan, power companies said. And they forced the closing of several Saginaw County schools, police said.