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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Heavy rain that drenched southern Indiana caused widespread flooding Wednesday, prompting some residents to leave their homes and schools to close.

A total of 7.7 inches fell at Evansville Regional Airport over about a two-day period before the storm ended Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’ve got water rising everywhere,” said Jeff Korb, president of the Vanderburgh County Commissioners, late Tuesday evening. “We’ve got more than 70 roads under water.”

The Red Cross set up a shelter Wednesday for people displaced by flood waters in Evansville.

Gov. Mitch Daniels planned a helicopter trip Thursday to survey flooding in Orange County, which was under a state of emergency after the weather service said the county received between 5 and 7 inches of rain in a 36-hour period.

“The entire county is just really hit hard with the water,” said Orange County Emergency Management Director Jeff Combs. “We have one shelter open in Paoli, and we have done some evacuations in Paoli and French Lick.”

About 20 people were evacuated Wednesday from the historic West Baden Springs Hotel near French Lick, and sections of Indiana 37 and Ind. 150 were closed due to flooding, said sheriff’s dispatcher Tina Peyton.

Officials in nearby Martin County also declared an emergency because of flooded roads.

The rain tapered off Wednesday afternoon, but major flooding was expected over the next few days for many southern Indiana rivers.

“It is going to take some time to dry out with this type of rain put down on saturated ground,” said Beverly Poole, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Ky. “It’s going to take a few days for the rivers and the creeks to recover.”

Rising water forced some residents to leave their homes in Milltown on the Harrison-Crawford county border west of Louisville, Ky. Flooding also closed dozens of roads in nearby Floyd and Clark counties.

“We’re holding our own in New Albany,” Floyd County Emergency Management Director Terry Herthel said.

A flood warning also was in effect for the White River in central Indiana, said Al Shipe, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. But he noted that most of the heavy rain fell south of Interstate 70, which traverses the middle of the state.

Vanderburgh County officials declared a local disaster emergency for the county and the city of Evansville due to high water. Sheriff Eric Williams urged motorists not to drive around barriers and warned that deputies would cite motorists who ignored signs.

Sheriff’s Lt. Sam Preston said volunteer fire departments had to rescue several drivers who tried to make it through floodwaters and became stuck.

More than a dozen school districts were closed Wednesday.

Crews overnight rescued a man who was clinging to a tree in the Ohio River after his truck was swept away at a boat ramp. Knight Township Fire Chief Chris Wathen said the man was conscious when he was pulled from the water but showing signs of hypothermia and could not speak clearly.

“It’s hard for anybody to say how long he could have survived there,” Wathen said. “But I do think it was fair to say he was within minutes of losing his life.”

The Ohio River was expected to flood Indiana 111, so the Caesars casino in Harrison County closed Wednesday afternoon, communications director Judy Hess said. A Credence Clearwater Revival concert scheduled for Friday has been canceled.

About 400 hotel guests would have to leave, along with the few remaining guests at the casino, she said.

Sunnier weather was in the forecast for most of southern Indiana on Thursday, with a chance of rain returning late Friday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)