GRAND RAPIDS - Rivers in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan sloshed into several communities yesterday, forcing people out of their homes and businesses and swamping thousands of acres of farmland.

Motorists detoured around flooded roadways in many areas. "High water" signs sprang up yesterday afternoon and the previous evening as rivers swelled above flood stage.

Some business owners in the Wood County village of Grand Rapids were caught off-guard by the Maumee River.

"It came up a lot faster than we thought it would," said Jenni Snyder, whose parents, Rick and Mary Snyder, own Snyder's Pisanello's pizza.

Customers at noon didn't mind the water seeping into the restaurant, and Mr. Snyder teased that carp pizza was the lunch special, with mud pie for dessert.

However, by midafternoon the restaurant and several other flooded businesses had shut their doors.

With a force that makes gawkers stand back a safe distance, the Maumee roared through the downtown business district.

It crashed against park benches, fences, and signs on Bluebell Island, which had disappeared below the water.

Residents and firefighters waded down Front Street.

Others clicked cameras, capturing the watery scene.

Debbie McDonald, who was grateful yesterday to be able to say that she lives on a hill in Grand Rapids, took photo after photo. Images of the flooded town will be turned into greeting cards as part of Mrs. McDonald's Rustic Images business.

"This is the worst I've seen it in the eight years we've lived here," she said.

At Couzin's Restaurant, owner Stephanie Dyke said she was told the river wouldn't flood the businesses this time around.

"At 10 this morning, the water started coming in," she said.

"It's been coming in about an inch an hour. We're being told the river won't crest until tonight."

She said she was disappointed that she couldn't quickly get sand and sand bags at the village hall when her business began to flood. "I have a real big problem with the village right now," she said.

In the city of Defiance, where dozens of homes were evacuated, Tony Steele was preparing to spend another night at a hotel. "Water is three feet deep in my house, and the water is still coming up," the 25-year-old said yesterday morning.

"I've put stuff on the porch from my shed," he said, glancing toward the flooded neighborhood along Summit Street near East First Street.

His home flooded in February, 2008, and since then, he's not put anything back down there, he said.

"This is going to happen, water coming in," he said. "Quite a few of my neighbors are out of their homes."

Pete Lundberg, 59, owner of Charlie's Down Under in Defiance, predicted water in his basement-level restaurant would recede in time for crews to clean the place for reopening by Monday evening.

An orange hose snaked out his restaurant at Clinton and First streets yesterday afternoon, sending water into the street. But the eight pumps to which they were connected were losing their battle against the river.

Eight inches of water stood in the 150-seat restaurant by early afternoon, and the river was still rising.

If the Maumee River crests as expected at 17.6 feet, the restaurant's basement could have 42 inches of water, said Mr. Lundberg, who added that on average, his business floods once every two years. "Sometimes it floods multiple times in the same year," he said.

With his sense of humor high and dry, he said the Monday evening dinner special could be fresh-river fish. "It's the same joke whenever it floods."

It was no joke in Napoleon where the Maumee flooded streets, parks, and homes, including the house on Front Street that Scott Nadeau, 28, and Butch Hammersmith, 24, bought last year and are remodeling.

By midmorning yesterday, the basement had 10 inches of water. "It was dry last night," Mr. Nadeau said.

Brand-new kitchen cabinets, not yet installed, and furniture moved to the back-yard garage during the remodeling work also were soaked,

"Pretty much everything we own is out there in water or down there in water," said Mr. Nadeau, who took a break from the remodeling while he was overseas.

He returned from Iraq in December with other members of the Ohio Air National Guard's 180th Fighter Wing. Mr. Hammersmith said he just joined the air guard.

The beautiful view of the Maumee, enhanced by recently installed French doors, was one reason the men bought the house.

Water backing up

As of yesterday afternoon, the city of Monroe had received nearly 300 phone complaints from residents about water backing up into basements.

Barry LaRoy, director of water and wastewater utilities, said the more than four inches of rain that fell recently had caused the sewage treatment system to reach its capacity.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant was processing about 50 million gallons of sewage a day from homes and businesses.

The average flow into the plant, which serves about 50,000 customers in Monroe and in Frenchtown, Monroe Charter, and Raisinville townships, is about 15 million gallons each day.

Also, several sanitary sewer collection mains in the system have reached capacity.

Mr. LaRoy said utility staff will continue to take phone calls from residents at 734-241-5926 and send workers to investigate sewage backups as soon as possible.

The city will collect items damaged from high water as part of the regular garbage pickup through March 26.

Authorities said residents will not have to pay extra for pickups beyond the three bag weekly limit.

Homes along Plum Creek Drive in Monroe Charter Township were among the flooded areas in Monroe County.

Gregory Williams, director of Monroe County Emergency Management Division, said water covered the street and reached the lawns of some homes in the subdivision near Dunbar and Telegraph roads.

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and members of the city's public service departments toured flooded areas yesterday afternoon, and they encouraged any city residents who were experiencing backups because of flooding to contact the city at 419-936-2020.

Some city streets, including much of Airline Avenue in South Toledo, were closed because they were filled with water.

The water extended to the front steps of some houses, said Charles Pohlman, who lives on the street.

"There's only one drain in the street and it empties into a ditch," Mr. Pohlman explained.

"There was just too much rain for the ditch to handle."

Brittany Thork, who lives on Crawford Avenue in West Toledo, said she was happy to report only two inches of water in her basement.

"That's nothing compared to past flooding," she said.

Staff writers Mark Reiter and Carl Ryan contributed to this report.

First Published March 12, 2009, 3:10 p.m.