Flooding swept through north-central West Virginia Friday, leaving two people dead and forcing at least 400 people from their homes a day after heavy rains and flooding devastated the southern part of the state.
Three deaths have been blamed on the floods this week. Friday's fatalities, which occurred in Randolph County, were identified as Roxie Robinson, in her 80s, and her 55-year-old daughter, Rosalie Smith.Amanda Collins, who was in a nearby home, said she saw the women swept away by the waters from Middle Fork River as they tried to flee their flooding one-story house sometime before 2 a.m.
"They were trying to get in a vehicle to leave . . . and it just swept them under," Collins said.
Many of the town's 100 residents searched for the women. They found Robinson's body in a barbed wire fence less than 100 feet downstream and her daughter's under some logs nearby.
In Tucker County, about 200 people were forced from their homes along Shavers Fork, and "the water is still coming up," Fire Chief Charles Lloyd said. At least 50 people had to leave their homes in Marlinton along the Greenbrier River, while in Belington, emergency crews evacuated about 100 homes, officials there said.
Storms that brought 2 to 3 inches of rain overnight to the north-central part of West Virginia also spawned high winds.
The flooding in the north came a day after as much as 31/2 inches of rain fell in southern West Virginia and touched off flooding that left a woman dead in Logan County and forced the evacuation of 2,500 homes.
Gov. Gaston Caperton declared a state of emergency in eight counties Thursday after flash floods swamped entire communities, and he was considering extending it to some northern counties Friday.
The floods also affected Kentucky's Pike County, hit for the second time in as many weeks Thursday with washed-out roads, stranded residents and evacuations. A tiny school in Toler, Ky., was destroyed.
In soggy southwestern Ohio, restaurants were closed, horse racing halted and Boy Scouts had to cancel a weekend jamboree.