EASTERN OHIO Storm system brings floods and two deaths to region

The system had started to move out by Wednesday night.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Remnants of Hurricane Frances pounded eastern Ohio with rain, flooding homes and roads, forcing evacuations and contributing to at least two deaths.
A 9-year-old Amish girl drowned after a rain-swollen stream swept her off a footbridge as she walked home from school in Tuscarawas County Wednesday afternoon. Leah E. Mast was pronounced dead at a hospital in neighboring Guernsey County, Tuscarawas County Sheriff Walt Wilson said.
Guernsey County Coroner Janet Brockwell said the death -- ruled an accidental drowning -- was directly attributable to the floodwaters. Five siblings who were with Mast weren't injured.
A 65-year-old man helping his landlord pump water out of a basement in Cambridge died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday, Brockwell said. John McCance, 65, was found dead by the landlord after she left him alone for about 30 minutes.
Flooding contributed
Brockwell said she considered the flooding a contributing factor in the death of the man, who didn't have a history of heart problems.
"It was one of those things where the stress of using the pump and helping the person clear the basement was enough to precipitate a heart attack," she said.
Southeast Ohio received 3 to 7 inches of rain on Wednesday, said Pat Herald, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
The system had already moved northeast Wednesday night, past the hardest-hit areas, he said.
"It was moving slower initially and picked up speed lately and has started to move out," Herald said.
As many as 350 homes were evacuated in Belmont County on Wednesday night, said Brad Johnston, operations chief of the county emergency management agency.
Chest-deep water filled some homes and businesses in New Lexington, in Perry County, where nine homes had been evacuated Tuesday night, said police Chief Jeffrey Newlon. Those families all went to stay with relatives, but shelters were opened in case others were displaced.
Road washed away
Rising waters washed away part of Ohio 37 just east of New Lexington.
In Tuscarawas County, the fire department asked the power company to turn off service to some homes.
"We've got some basements completely flooded over their power boxes, eight feet of water," Uhrichsville fire Chief Jim Golec said.
High water forced the Ohio Department of Transportation to close down a stretch of the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 through Guernsey County around midnight. A different stretch of the interstate's eastbound lanes through the county had been closed for about six hours Wednesday night.
Department spokeswoman Cindy Brown said such closures from flooding are rare.
"Any time you close down an interstate it's a big deal," she said.
School was let out early in Noble County Wednesday, and four pupils were taken to shelters after high water made roads impassable for school buses and for the children's parents, said county EMA Director Chasity Schmelzenbach.
Most of the 200 residents in the village of Belle Valley had left their homes, and people were also evacuating in the village of Caldwell, Schmelzenbach said.
"The areas that are being hit have seen floodwater before, so there's not much forcing of these folks, they're just glad to get help," she said.