Hundreds Flee Flooding in West Virginia

Hundreds of people fled homes along swollen streams Wednesday after more than four inches of rain fell across parts of West Virginia.

High water also blocked dozens of roads, closed schools and businesses in several counties and forced the rerouting of traffic on one interstate, authorities said.

Elsewhere, subzero temperatures and snow continued to plague much of the nation Wednesday.

It was 52 degrees below zero at Promise, S. D., in the north-central part of the state.

In addition to rain, the storm that spread snow and ice from the Plains to the East Coast on Tuesday also hit West Virginia with ice that knocked out power to about 13,000 customers statewide.

Gov. Gaston Caperton ordered the National Guard to assist flood victims in Grantsville, Glenville and Philippi, and he declared a state of emergency in four counties that were hit hard by ice storms. He also sent state workers home early Wednesday because of icy roads.

In northern West Virginia, about 1,000 people were asked to leave their homes along an eight-mile stretch of the Cheat River from St. George to Hendricks. High water had already entered many of the homes, firefighter Eric McCrum said.

Homes also were evacuated in seven other counties in western and eastern parts of the state.

The Cheat River crested nearly six feet above flood stage at Parsons and more than 10 feet above flood stage at Rowlesburg, the National Weather Service reported.

Lows of 30 below zero or colder were common across the northern Plains, with record lows of 47 below at Redfield, S. D.; 43 below at Bismarck, N. D., and 31 below at Valentine, Neb.

Snow fell at Buffalo, N. Y., the 54th consecutive day of a trace or more of precipitation, beginning Dec. 18. The previous record of 53 consecutive days was in the winter of 1976-77.

Streets and sidewalks in Delaware were so icy Wednesday that several post offices halted mail deliveries. “It just wasn’t worth the risk because it’s really treacherous,” said postal clerk Jim Cooke at the Camden-Wyoming Post Office.

Snowfall totals included a foot in Wisconsin, 10 inches along the Connecticut shoreline and more than seven inches in Rhode Island.

Many cities and towns throughout the Northeast have already exhausted their annual snow-removal budgets.