Friday, Nov. 8, 1985
Nation/World
University Daily Kansan
11
Floods rage in eastern U.S.
United Press International
Floodwaters that have killed 40 people in four states washed through the streets of the nation's capital yesterday, inundating Washington's posh Georgetown district and closing national monuments.
President Reagan signed an executive order declaring flood-striken West Virginia a disaster area, while Virginia officials prepared to ask for a similar declaration. Water 11 feet deep covered the farmers' market in Richmond, Va.
Four days of heavy rain pushed rivers in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland to their highest crests in more than a century, forcing at least 20,000 people to flee their homes and inflicting more than $350 million in damage.
The death toll stood at 40 — 19 in West Virginia, 17 in Virginia, three in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland. Authorities in West Virginia said they could not account for 43 more people in flooded areas.
The rain ended Wednesday and Appalachian rivers began receding, but the water surged downstream under sunny skies toward Richmond and Washington, D.C.
In Washington, the Potomac River crested at 12 feet at 6 p.m., five feet above flood stage, washing over its banks into Georgetown and flooding a fashionable shopping strip.
Jim Golden, who works in the Watergate Building, watched the chocolate-brown water wash over the banks of the Potomoc several hundred feet away.
"I've seen pots and pans and everything floating down the river," he said. "It'd be a hell of a ride in a canoe."
At least one waterfront pub, Chadwick's, reported brisk business despite sandbags at the front door, 40 feet from the raging waters.
"There's lots of fresh seafood on the menu," Joe McGuinness, owner, said.
Georgetown merchants put sandbags around their stores to prevent water, running four feet deep in their basement reaching expensive merchandise.
The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial were closed by the National Park Service. Several highways and roads, including Independence Avenue along the
Smithsonian Mall, were shut down, bringing morning rush-hour traffic to a standstill.
In the historic Old Town section of Alexandria, Va., 12 feet of water ran through King Street, damaging shops and restaurants, police said.
The National Guard sent portable water purifiers and toilets to flood-ravaged Pendleton County, W.Va., where power and water services were disrupted, said John Price, Gov. Arch Moore's press secretary.
More than $50,000 worth of food was sent out, as were medical supplies, blankets and body bags. Price said, but residents were adjusting to the calamity.
"Many of them know how to live off the land," he said. "They can all hunt and fond for themselves in the wilderness."
Speakes tells Congress to fit budget to Reagan
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The White House, its enthusiasm for balanced budget legislation apparently cooled by worries about threats to military spending, yesterday warned that any bill from Congress must meet President Reagan's "principles."
The House and Senate hardened their positions on opposing balanced budget plans Wednesday, sending the issue into conference. But the Senate did not appoint its negotiators yesterday and Senate aides said a meeting was unlikely before next Tuesday because Congress is taking Monday off for Veterans Day.
An earlier House-Senate conference on balancing the budget fell apart, and Senate aides said "we're no closer this time" to agreement.
The balanced budget legislation is attached to a bill to lift the federal debt ceiling to a record $2 trillion. The Treasury says they need the debt limit hike by Nov. 14, but since two previous deadlines have been surmounted without the increase — once by dipping into Social Security funds — Congress is skeptical of this date as well.
If the Nov. 14 deadline is firm, that will only leave three days for Congress to act next week on the balanced budget — Tuesday through Thursday.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the House version "cuts the base" from which spending reductions could be made by exempting some programs, meaning more cuts would have to come out of the Pentagon.
"We intend to get a bill that suits him (Reagan)." Speaks said later. Asked if Reagan would accept a balanced budget plan that violates his military buildup plans, Speakes said, "I think we'll just wait and see the product before we say. But the president is firm that there was a commitment made (to the buildup)."
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