Flooding Subsides, Emergency Responders Leaving Southern Nevada Town

''The water subsided all night,'' said police Capt. Daniel Barry, the commander of rescue operations. ''We're scaling down the manpower.''

Police and firefighters began the 50-mile trip back to Las Vegas _ leaving behind piles of sandbags that were filled but unused.

Road crews and health officials began moving in to assess the safety of the water supply and sewer systems, and to test roads flooded when waters crested Wednesday.

Barry said there were no reports of drinking water contamination, and no injuries due to flooding. Telephone and electric service were not affected.

''We've just got a big mess to clean up,'' said Overton resident James Watkins, 50, who spent Wednesday watching churning brown water receding from his home.

Earlier, sudden snowmelt in distant mountains transformed the normally trickling Muddy River into a raging torrent _ making Overton the last of a number of small communities along the Nevada-Utah-Arizona border to face serious flooding.

An estimated 200 people fled as water fanned out over ranches and farms, overran roads and collapsed riverbanks near downtown.

Some evacuees went to a Red Cross shelter at a nearby Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.

During the height of the flooding, a police helicopter rescued five people, including two children, trapped by rising water in the Overton area.

Upstream, along the Meadow Valley Wash, roaring waters shoved 21 parked Union Pacific freight cars off train tracks near the border of Clark and Lincoln counties. Most of the cars were empty.

The flooding came when skies cleared and temperatures warmed following a series of wet winter storms dumping heavy rain and snow on the southern part of the state.

Northeast of Overton, in the resort town of Mesquite, a feeling of relief set in Wednesday after predictions of surging water along the Virgin River failed to develop.

Earlier surges flooded about 40 homes and garages in Mesquite and forced the evacuation of about 100 residents.

In nearby Moapa Valley, officials reported about 700 head of cattle were stranded without food for several days.

A few miles north in Beaver Dam, Ariz., residents returned to some 1,400 homes cut off when raging waters washed out a road Tuesday at the Beaver Dam Wash bridge.

Road crews graded a rugged road to provide a 22-mile detour to the area, while utility crews worked to restore electricity and telephone service. Health officials issued orders not to drink tapwater or use sewer systems until damage was assessed.

Authorities estimated 22 homes in Beaver Dam and nearby Littlefield, Ariz., were damaged or destroyed by flooding.

Officials in Clark County , which includes Las Vegas, declared an emergency in response to flooding and the threat that avalanches posed to 66 homes on Mount Charleston.

In Lincoln County, 600 people were evacuated during flooding. About 60 homes in the Caliente area reported flood damage.

Gov. Kenny Guinn was deciding whether to seek federal assistance for Clark and Lincoln counties.