OHIO Authorities: Avoid flooded roads

Last week's floods left four dead in Ohio.
DERWENT, Ohio (AP) -- The drowning deaths of two women whose car was swept away in flood waters had authorities repeating warnings to avoid flooded roads, no matter how passable they may appear.
"If the roadway is covered, do not attempt to drive through it," Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Van Buren said Saturday.
The bodies of Gayla Norman, 43, and Lois Hastings, 41, were found Friday after water in Wills Creek began to recede and someone reported seeing the top of a car in the water.
"It just was a tragedy of poor judgment," Guernsey County coroner Dr. Janet Brockwell said Saturday. "It's one of those things that shouldn't have happened but unfortunately did."
Patrol officials were still investigating the accident, but estimated that the water was 4 feet deep on the road where Norman and Hastings tried to drive through, Van Buren said. The car was apparently swept off the road, over an embankment and into the creek below, the patrol said.
Couldn't escape
Their car was found in drive, and it did not appear the women had a chance to escape, Brockwell said. It was not immediately clear who was driving.
"They just don't realize what can happen," he said. "Their car's going to float just like a boat when they get in the deep water, and the current will sweep you off the roadway."
Norman and Hastings had been staying at a friend's home, but insisted on returning to their home on the other side of the flooded road Thursday morning, Brockwell said.
National Weather Service flood warnings include statements about avoiding water-covered roads, but authorities often describe rescuing people who ignore road closings during storms.
In a storm that soaked Ohio in January, firefighters in Fairfield County and township police in Greene County had to rescue people standing on their vehicle roofs after they ignored warnings and were swept off roads.
Four deaths
Last week's floods came with a long, soaking rain, causing less damage, but the four deaths make it more deadly than a flash flood last July that killed three people in Northeast Ohio, including two trapped in an apartment complex basement.
Two people died Wednesday when the remnants of Hurricane Frances dumped 3 to 10 inches of rain in eastern and southeastern Ohio.
A 9-year-old girl drowned after a rain-swollen stream swept her off a footbridge as she walked home from school in Tuscarawas County, and a 65-year-old man suffered an apparent heart attack while helping his landlord pump water out of a basement in Cambridge, authorities said.
Flood warnings continued Saturday in Guernsey and Carroll counties.
Gov. Bob Taft has declared a state of emergency in 10 counties hit hardest by the flooding: Belmont, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Morgan, Noble, Tuscarawas, Muskingum and Perry.
Stark County officials also are seeking a state declaration because of road damage along the flooded Sandy Creek.
Drivers were ignoring barriers Friday after flood waters started to recede, even though some of the road surface on a bridge had been knocked away, county emergency management director Rick Alatorre said.
Some communities in those areas reported more than 10 inches of rain in 24 hours.