For Lawrence County, 2003 may go down in the history books as the year the weather went wild.

Snow storms hit in January, an ice storm came in February. Now comes May, and severe storms have brought flooding.

"We've had reports of water over the roads, trees down, and power lines down in just too many places to mention," said Larry Jewell, deputy director of the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency.

Ohio Department of Transportation District Nine crews were out for much of the evening, as were utility crews.

"There are trees down on State Routes 243, 650 and 522," said Mike Willis, the timekeeper for ODOT's Lawrence County garage. "And there is high water on State Route 93."

Ohio State Highway patrol troopers reported water over the road in numerous areas.

Citizens telephoned local agencies with unconfirmed reports of tornado sightings in Coal Grove, Ironton, and South Point.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Batholf said officials from the Charleston weather bureau will be in Lawrence County today to investigate these claims.

The severe storms sent creeks and streams over banks. National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Seymour said Lawrence County has received five inches of rain in the last five days, more than an inch in the last 24 hours.

Water on Hog Run Road backed up into the Upper Township Volunteer Fire Department. Assistant Chief Jeff Scott said six to eight inches of water and mud spilled into the steel frame building, ruining much of the department's new equipment.

"We had just gotten it and it was sitting in boxes on the floor; we hadn't even taken it out of the boxes yet," Scott said. "Helmets, hoses, I don't know what all yet was ruined."

Bernie Cox of Decatur said Pine Creek spilled over its banks, and he watched two and a half feet of water flood his yard yesterday afternoon. He said Pine Creek has always been filled with debris, but the ice storm made an already bad situation worse.

"I wish the Wayne National Forest would clean this out," Cox said. "If they cleaned out Pine Creek I don't think we'd have this problem."

Donald and Rosemary Wood of Coal Grove returned home to find their mobile home crushed by a fallen tree.

"I've always had a fear of that," Rosemary Wood said. "See how God works? We weren't meant to be home."

And what kind of weather can we expect as we move into a new week?

"A cold front will move across the plains and into the region midday (today). Showers will accompany it, but once it passes out of the Tri-State, cooler drier air should follow it for the first part of next week," Seymour said.