Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993 TAG: 9303250331
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN, KEVIN KITTREDGE and ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN 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.
Heavy rains Wednesday night caused a minor repeat of last May's flooding in downtown Blacksburg and on the Virginia Tech campus.
"We've got flooding everywhere," a Blacksburg dispatcher said about 9:30 p.m. At least three streets had to be closed in the town. No accidents had occurred, although cars were trying to navigate several roads covered by water, she said.
On the campus, flooding closed Duckpond Drive, Drillfield Drive and parts of Southgate Drive. Water also was up to the wheel-tops of cars parked in the parking lot across from the Donaldson Brown Continuing Education Center.
Crews had placed sandbags around the center on Otey Street, but there were minor problems inside the building from water backing up in the bathroom, kitchen and housekeeping section, according to employees.
Lt. J.E. Woods of the Virginia Tech Police Department said there also were some water problems at the War Memorial Gymnasium. However, at 9:45 p.m., he said the water appeared to be going down.
Last May, both the continuing education center and the gymnasium suffered damage in one of the worst floods in Tech's history.
The flooding was not expected to last long as the rain showers moved out of the area and into Craig and Alleghany counties, the National Weather Service said.
Earlier Wednesday, the threat of flooding had closed schools 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.
At Buena Vista, which was inundated in the floods of 1969 and 1985, the Maury River 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. writer Stephen Foster contributed to this story