Rain, Flooding Lash Parts of East and South

Drenching rains that produced flooding struck parts of the East and South on Saturday.

Thunderstorms swept through Philadelphia and its suburbs, whipping the area with 45 m.p.h. winds, half-inch hail and heavy rainfall near the Delaware border as it moved northward toward New Jersey. The storms were accompanied by lightning, and flooding occurred in poor-drainage areas.

Isolated storms moved through eastern West Virginia and northwest Virginia, dropping locally heavy rain and causing ponding on some highways, officials said.

In the South, thunderstorms moved through far southeast Louisiana into the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf of Mexico.

A flood warning remained in effect Saturday for the Rio Grande from Presidio, Tex., to the mouth of the Pecos River.

In Yaphank, N.Y., a father and son working in the flooded yard of their welding business got pulled into a drain pipe and were swept along under ground, authorities said.

The pair emerged into a drainage ditch, where they were rescued by police and firefighters. But Joseph Leogrande, 67, was trapped in the flood waters for an hour.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami, meanwhile, was monitoring the course of Tropical Storm Gustav and a tropical depression, which if it strengthens sufficiently would become Tropical Storm Hortense.

Gustav was about 515 miles east of the Lesser Antilles with winds gusting to 55 m.p.h. extending outward 115 miles and strengthening. It was moving westward at about 15 m.p.h. and was expected to stay on that course for at least 24 hours.

The tropical depression was located midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles and moving westward at 15 m.p.h. with maximum sustained winds of 35 m.p.h.

Elsewhere, thunderstorms and rain showers were scattered across the Great Lakes, the plains and the Pacific Northwest.

Heavier rainfall during the morning Saturday included 1 1/2 inches at Ft. Meyers, Fla., and a half-inch at Miami; Concord, N.H., and Moline, Ill.

Recent rains in the nation’s midsection pushed rivers to flood levels in Iowa and Minnesota.

In northeastern Iowa, the Wapsipinicon River was expected to crest eight feet above flood stage at Independence and the Turkey River was expected to crest 12 feet above flood stage today at Garber.

Some street flooding was reported in Moose Lake in central Minnesota from heavy early morning rains.

Temperatures, meanwhile, turned cooler in the West, setting several record lows. It was a record low 65 degrees in Tucson.