Rising water spurs evacuations

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Up to 200,000 people in the Wilkes-Barre area were ordered to evacuate their homes Wednesday because of rising water on the Susquehanna River, swelled by a record-breaking deluge that has killed at least 12 people across the Northeast.

Thousands more were ordered to leave their homes in New Jersey, New York and Maryland. Rescue helicopters plucked residents from rooftops as rivers and streams surged over their banks, washed out roads and bridges, and cut off villages in some of the worst flooding in the region in decades, with more rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.

Wilkes-Barre, a city of 43,000 in northeastern Pennsylvania coal-mining country, was devastated by deadly flooding in 1972 from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes. It is protected by levees, and officials said the Susquehanna was expected to crest just a few feet from the tops of the 41-foot floodwalls.

But Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said officials were worried about the effects of water pressing against the levees for 48 hours. The floodwalls were completed just three years ago.

“It is honestly precautionary,” Vonderheid said. “We have great faith the levees are going to hold.”

The river was expected to crest early today at a level at least four feet below the tops of the levees, said Alan Pugh, county public safety chief.

An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people in the county of about 351,000 were told to get out by nightfall. Mayor Tom Leighton said about 10,000 people had left their homes by late Wednesday. Police and National Guard troops were patrolling the streets in the evacuated area and were under orders to arrest anyone who violated a 9 p.m. curfew.

A dozen helicopters from the Pennsylvania National Guard, the state police and the Coast Guard were sent on search-and-rescue missions, plucking stranded residents from rooftops in Bloomsburg, Sayre and New Milford. Hundreds of National Guardsmen prepared to distribute ice, water and meals ready to eat.

Flooding closed many roads in the Philadelphia area, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

A record 4.05 inches of rain fell Tuesday at Binghamton, N.Y. During the weekend, the same system drenched the Washington and Baltimore region with more than a foot of rain.

Although the bulk of the rain moved out of the area Wednesday, streams were still rising from the runoff, and forecasters said more showers and occasional thunderstorms were possible along the East Coast for the rest of the week.

After touring the region by helicopter, New York Gov. George Pataki said the heavy rain caused “unparalleled devastation” and estimated that property damage in his state would total at least $100 million.

In anticipation of more flooding, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine declared a statewide emergency Wednesday evening.

The weather was blamed for four deaths each in Maryland and Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and three in New York.