Streets Run gurgled peacefully through Pittsburgh's Hays neighborhood on Monday, well within its banks.

That might not be the case for long, and brothers Erwin and John Lewis were getting ready, moving cars, appliances and other valuables from their sister's Calera Street residence to higher ground.

"You do what you've got to do," said John Lewis, as he tinkered with a 1975 Ford Granada, partly covered with a blue tarp, in preparation for relocating it.

City officials held a meeting Sunday at Holy Angels Church to warn residents of flood-prone Hays about a looming combination of melting snow and expected rain later this week that could turn the placid creek into a destructive torrent.

The Lewises, veterans of several floods, were moving a washer, dryer, snowblower, lawn mower and other belongings from the creekside home on Monday, saying they took the city's warnings seriously.

They also complained about more than a decade of unkept promises by local authorities to stem the chronic flooding along Streets Run.

"We're paying taxes to those idiots," Erwin Lewis said.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for rain and highs approaching 60 degrees from Wednesday through Saturday. Snow in the Laurel Highlands, more than 4 feet deep in spots, has not begun to melt appreciably, but will on Wednesday, said hydrologist Bill Drzal. Rainfall from Thursday through Saturday could be as much as 1.5 inches.

"This does not look like a good situation," he said.

The Laurel Highlands and higher elevations in western Maryland and northern West Virginia drain into the Youghiogheny and Cheat rivers, which flow into the Monongahela.

Considerable unmelted snow also remains across the Allegheny River basin.

Much of that water is going to find its way to the Point in Pittsburgh, but how fast and how deep is not yet apparent.

Authorities have compared this year's conditions to January 1996, when a sudden warm-up and snow melt combined with torrential rain to spawn the worst flooding here in 24 years.

Mr. Drzal said most of the rain in '96 fell in one night. This week's rain will be more spread out, and that might make a difference.

In Millvale, there was little activity on Monday along flood-prone Girty's Run, also well within its banks under a calm, sunny sky. A pile of free sand in the borough's riverfront park went undisturbed.

In Elizabeth Township, where nearly 400 homes are in low-lying areas near the Youghiogheny River or other streams, officials were making arrangements to provide shelters, water and cleaning kits, said Pete Hough, deputy emergency management coordinator.

"The homeowners ... have been faced with this so many times they have their own preparations," he said. They include removing the motors from furnaces, getting valued items out of basements and making arrangements to stay with friends or relatives.

"I think most of them have a pretty good plan," Mr. Hough said. "They're unique people. They get flooded out every five or seven years and still they stay. You've got to give them credit."

Officials from Allegheny County's Department of Emergency Services, the weather service and the Army Corps of Engineers will hold a briefing today on forecasts of warm, rainy weather later in the week. They also will discuss continuing flood preparation efforts.

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