RIVERS RISE, BUT MOST AREAS ESCAPE FLOODING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: RON BROWN and KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
RIVERS RISE, BUT MOST AREAS ESCAPE FLOODING
Western Virginians braced for flooding Tuesday night and Wednesday, but most communities were spared - except in the New River Valley.
Rising water swamped the Beijing Restaurant and Hotel in Pulaski, forced evacuations and closed dozens of roads in Montgomery, Pulaski and Giles counties.
All schools were closed Wednesday in Pulaski and Giles counties, and schools opened two hours late in Montgomery County.
Rescue workers in Giles County had to put together a makeshift ferry to evacuate three people along Stony Creek at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Later, they had to wake up the occupants of a camper near Narrows, who were unaware the water had risen several feet and into their camper underneath their bunks.
Elsewhere, predictions of flooding proved exaggerated.
Tuesday, the National Weather Service was predicting that the James River, bloated by rain and melting snow, would crest 10 feet over flood stage.
By Wednesday afternoon, though, the Weather Service was backing off that prediction and saying that only minor flooding was anticipated in low-lying communities along the James.
"We didn't get enough rainfall," said Donato Cacciapaglia, a Weather Service specialist.
Forecasters said the James at Buchanan would crest at 18 to 19 feet around 10 p.m. That's 3 to 4 feet above flood stage.
Buena Vista, which was inundated by the Maury River in the floods of 1969 and 1985, was not expected to reach flood stage. Wednesday afternoon, the Maury was roughly 7 feet below the flood level of 17 feet.
Nearly 2 inches of rain fell in icy Wythe County, which still was blanketed with snow from the blizzard of March 13.
At Radford, the New River was expected to crest at 19 to 20 feet, or 5 to 6 feet above flood stage.
The river flooded Radford's Bisset Park and a parking area near the Dedmon Center at Radford University, said City Manager Robert Asbury.
The Roanoke River at Walnut Avenue Southeast in Roanoke crested at 1.7 feet above flood level at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
"If we didn't have the snow, we would not have had any flooding," Cacciapaglia said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB