ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DANVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
A HOUSE CARRIED OFF its foundation by Fall Creek hit an oak tree, glanced against a church and knocked over three power poles.
Gov. George Allen examined flood damage Wednesday from a 5-inch overnight deluge and fretted that storms from Hurricane Fran may cause much worse damage.
``You've got saturated banks. You've got swollen rivers. The ground is not going to hold the water,'' Allen said during a tour of the flooded Dan River in Danville and Pittsylvania County. ``It seems to me everyone has to be on heightened alert as we go through the weekend.''
Tuesday night's storms forced more than 100 people to evacuate their homes and turned tiny Fall Creek into a river 20 feet deep that destroyed three houses and severely damaged four others.
Five families were rescued from their flooded homes by emergency crews in boats and four-wheel-drive trucks as the Dan crested 8 feet above flood stage.
``We could hear the ladies down below yelling for help, and we thought somebody was shooting because the trees were going, `crack, crack, crack,''' said Sylvia Barnes, 57, who lives on a ridge overlooking the flooded homes.
Fall Creek, a tributary of the Dan, lifted a house off its foundation and smashed it into an oak tree 200 yards away. The house then glanced against a church and knocked over three power poles.
``It looks like a bomb hit it,'' Ronnie Harley, captain of the city fire department said as he stared at the roof resting on the ground.
``The house came from down there?'' Allen asked. ``My God. It is absolutely amazing with this hitting in darkness there was no loss of life.''
No one was injured, but two chained dogs drowned.
``I was just walking and praying,'' Mary Averett, 69, told Allen. ``The water was rushing, and the dogs were barking.''
``My sister tried to get to them, but the water was too high,'' Misty Boyer, 18, said.
Electricity was restored Wednesday to several hundred customers, and the Dan began to recede, but Young said he feared more flooding if remnants of Hurricane Fran, due to strike Georgia or South Carolinatoday, send more rain into Virginia.
Flash flood warnings were posted Wednesday for Page and Madison counties in northwestern Virginia, where up to 41/2 inches of rain was reported Wednesday morning, much of it within three hours.
``Places that are of particular concern are the Pittsylvania County and Danville area and those where last year we had the devastating floods,'' Allen said. ``What those rivers are now are wide swaths of rock. There's nothing much to hold the water.''
Danville and Pittsylvania County officials declared a state of emergency Tuesday. One shelter was set up Tuesday night, but no one showed up.
Three bridges were washed out, and more than 60 roads in the area were temporary closed by the high water.
Water also covered railroad tracks in Danville, delaying a train from New York to Atlanta for four hours.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Gov. George Allen talks to Danville residents forcedby CNBfrom their homes by flooding of the Dan River and its tributaries.
color.