The mountains shed rain in torrents, and the region's creeks and rivers overflowed Tuesday as remnants of Hurricane Jeanne swirled through Southwest Virginia. Jeanne dumped enough rain to prompt flood-related rescues, school closings and the evacuation of hundreds of people from homes and businesses. Its passing caused at least one death and untold property damage.

Torrential rainfall in Patrick County, the scene of an apparent drowning, totaled 11.5 inches at one station.

The rain-swollen Roanoke River flooded roads, homes and businesses and crested at 17.9 feet at 3 p.m. Tuesday - a depth that could make the deluge of Sept. 28, 2004, the Roanoke Valley's seventh-biggest flood on record.

Across Southwest Virginia, Jeanne rained heartache and ruin. And residents rebounded again after enduring storms earlier this month from Jeanne's predecessors - rainy Frances and twister-spawning Ivan.

In Alleghany County, Sheriff Dale Muterspaugh described homes surrounded by water and related evacuations.

In Rockbridge County, students remained stranded at one rural elementary school Tuesday evening waiting for a safe way home.

In eastern Montgomery County, Roanoke and Salem, others found temporary shelter in government buildings, schools and civic centers.

Smith Mountain Lake passed the "full pond mark" after inflows surged from about 1,600 cubic feet per second at midnight Monday to a remarkable 60,000 about midday Tuesday, according to Todd Burns of American Electric Power. Burns said Claytor Lake was full at 6:30 p.m., leading AEP to open the flood gates at the dam and release water into the New River, which was already above flood stage just downstream in Radford.

During the day, swift-water rescues reached people in Alleghany Springs, Salem and Roanoke.

"It's been water, water and more water," Muterspaugh said.

And it was more water than many forecasters anticipated Monday.

Steve Keighton, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said a combination of factors caused the downpours that affected some counties and cities in the region more than others.

First, the complex, swirling remnants of Hurricane Jeanne - as Tropical Depression Jeanne - "went a little further west than the most likely track we were expecting yesterday," Keighton said Tuesday.

Then, on that more westward track, Jeanne's weather interacted vigorously with the Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains forced the storm's moist air up more quickly and along a comparatively narrow strip, he said. And the mountain ridges and storm-driven winds combined to squeeze out more rain.

In many areas, officials said, small streams and creeks played a big, damaging role.

Tuesday morning, storm-flooded Sandy Creek in Patrick County's Dry Pond area dislodged a mobile home and bore an outbuilding about 150 yards downstream.

About 9:30 a.m., after a concerned neighbor alerted the sheriff's department, officers and rescue personnel discovered the body of a 51-year-old woman in the outbuilding. In a news release, Patrick County Sheriff David Hubbard reported that the woman probably drowned. An autopsy will be performed.

Authorities identified the victim as Katherine L. Smith. Investigator Danny Martin said Smith apparently lived alone in the mobile home and might have gone to the outbuilding to check on her cats because of the rising water.

As of Tuesday night, Smith's death was the only fatality attributed directly to Jeanne.

Montgomery County officials declared a local emergency at 10 a.m. Tuesday as the Roanoke River rose out of its banks and threatened residents from Alleghany Springs to Lafayette, said Neal Turner, the county's emergency management coordinator.

Members of the New River Valley Water Rescue and Recovery Association from Elliston, Radford and Longshop-McCoy rescued four people by boat from Flick Drive in Alleghany Springs, said Chief Pug Wells of the Elliston Fire Department.

In Roanoke, the city coped with high water in Southeast neighborhoods, along Wiley Drive, in the Meadowbrook subdivision off Peters Creek and elsewhere. Tinker and Glade creeks flowed across streets and bridges near the Roanoke-Vinton line. A family of ducks swam across 13th Street Northeast.

Along Bennington Avenue Southeast, a crowd gathered to watch the mocha-colored floodwaters.

"Look, there goes somebody's dresser," said Thomas Williams, a resident of Riverdale Road Southeast, as he stood at the corner of Bennington and Riverdale.

In Southwest Roanoke County, nearly a dozen small mudslides occurred along U.S. 221. Roads in many areas of the county were closed because of storm-related washouts, mudslides, downed trees and high water.

Along Steeplechase Drive, the storm caused the collapse of the stone retaining wall and front yard at Susan and Alan Young's home. Susan Young said a subdivision being built up the road has increased runoff into Mud Lick Branch.

Standing water Tuesday morning led to "hydroplaning everywhere" and minor motor vehicle accidents on Interstate 81, according to state police.

Staff writers Mike Allen, Shay Barnhart, Ralph Berrier Jr., John Cramer and Kevin Miller contributed to this report.