Flood Stage

Sections of Virginia and Pennsylvania were declared federal disaster areas Saturday in the wake of last week's floods, and West Virginia's governor authorized state police to deputize even "individuals in the street" to help disaster relief efforts. Farther west, the season's first widespread snowstorm sent temperatures diving and left half a foot or more of snow Saturday from the Dakotas to Michigan, turning roads into skating rinks. At least one death was blamed on the storm.

A freak spring storm on Friday snarled the Deep South with the first April snow accumulation on record in many areas, closing schools and knocking out power to thousands, and depositing more than a foot of snow in Appalachia. Jackson, Miss., received an inch of snow and parts of northern Alabama had accumulations up to nine inches, weather officials said. Snow fell as far south as Mobile, Ala., closing schools in at least six counties.

Residents began cleaning up as flooded rivers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio receded Tuesday, but Indiana's high waters were expected to continue for the rest of the week, the National Weather Service reported. Heavy rain combined with an unseasonsable snow melt were blamed for the flooding. Flood warnings remained in effect for western Pennsylvania, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers crested slightly above flood stage during the night and were receding.

The Mississippi River reached its crest at Vicksburg on Thursday without breaching its main levee or inundating the city, but academic experts say the flood has raised troubling long-term questions about how the nation's largest waterway is managed. The river crested at 14.1 feet above flood stage in the Mississippi city, moving at 13 mph, more than double its normal velocity of 5 mph, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. It was carrying 17 million gallons of water per second, enough to fill the Rose Bowl in about five seconds.

After hitting nearly 48 feet and sending water to the edge of downtown and through some low-lying areas, the Mississippi River peaked Tuesday without swamping Memphis, but officials warned that it was too early to exhale and said the river would be high for weeks. Downstream, fear of major inundations grew as the river rumbled south through Mississippi and Louisiana, swollen by unusually heavy rains and runoff from melting winter snows to the north. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened 44 more gates to the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Norco, La., diverting floodwater into Lake Pontchartrain.

The governor's helicopter was pressed into service Sunday to pluck people off roofs and ferry a heart patient to a hospital after heavy rains triggered flash floods and mudslides in southern and central West Virginia. At least one person was believed dead while others were trapped in trailer homes swept away by rain-swollen creeks, authorities said. Gov. Bob Wise was touring flooded areas when his helicopter was needed to aid rescue efforts. "What we have seen is all water.

Tornadoes and spring-like thunderstorms swept across Arkansas and four other states Saturday, flattening buildings, sweeping away mobile homes and flooding whole subdivisions. As many as 27 people were killed and more than 200 were injured. Arkansas suffered the largest number of fatalities, at least 20. "It's horrible. The whole downtown is gone," said Jeremy Cox of Arkadelphia in central Arkansas.

Floodwaters fed by heavy rain deluged the central part of the nation Wednesday, forcing thousands of Illinois residents to abandon their homes, threatening to burst a Wisconsin dam and sending water gushing through windows in Tahlequah, Okla. "We're going to have the highest water we've had in history," Civil Defense worker James Waters said in Tahlequah, where the Illinois River was expected to crest at 24 to 25 feet, about 13 feet above flood stage.

About 43 million Americans are preparing to go over the river and through the woods (in automobiles and airplanes) this Thanksgiving holiday, and with the exception of the Northwest, most will have good weather during the busy travel period. For those living in the Seattle area, the forecast calls for rain through the end of the holiday on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. As much as five inches could fall in the next few days and more than two inches are forecast in western Washington.

For the second time in 10 months, residents of the Appalachian coal towns along the Tug Fork river were digging out from a devastating flood Saturday and talking about rebuilding their lives and homes and businesses. "We're tough people up here in the mountains, but we're getting tired of this," said Marvin Cochran, 45. "I'll put things back together again because this has always been home. But my father says he's getting out, if we can get his trailer off the hill."