Jan 9th

Along the Ohio River, hundreds of Ohio and West Virginia residents had evacuated their homes and stacked sandbags.

The river was nearly 4 feet above flood stage and still rising Saturday morning at Point Pleasant, W.Va., and was about 7 feet above flood stage but beginning to recede at Marietta, Ohio, the National Weather Service said. Downstream, it was expected to crest Tuesday at slightly more than 5 feet above at Cincinnati, the weather service said.

Water was 2 to 4 feet deep Saturday in the streets of downtown Marietta, closing businesses.

Louisville had already closed part of its River Road and installed two of its flood gates, and the Caesars Indiana riverboat casino in Harrison County, Ind., was shut down. The expected 28-foot crest at Louisville, 5 feet over flood stage, would be the highest since March 1997.

In north-central Indiana, some 100,000 homes and businesses remained without power Saturday, three days after a paralyzing ice storm.