Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Southeast States Hit by Heavy Rain

Bands of intense thunderstorms brought heavy rain to Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida. More than 50 people were evacuated in the town of Boone, in western North Carolina, where about five inches of rain fell. Rescuers were searching for three teen-agers reported swept off a footbridge by high water in Caldwell County. In Florida, strong wind downed power lines and trees near Tampa and St. Petersburg, and high wind or a tornado left a path of damage near Fair Play, S.C. Rain, snow, sleet and freezing rain were scattered across the northern Plains into Wisconsin and northern Michigan.