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Author Topic: Eastern U.S. Floods  (Read 2209 times)
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MuffyBee
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« on: September 08, 2011, 10:22:31 PM »

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/09/us-usa-flooding-idUSTRE7874I620110909?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Eastern U.S. floods force 130,000 to evacuate
September 8, 2011


(One of four pictures at link)
(Reuters) - Relentless rain caused catastrophic flooding in the eastern U.S. on Thursday, killing at least three people in Pennsylvania and forcing the evacuation of more than 130,000 people in three states.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, days after slamming the Gulf Coast, swamped homes and businesses from Maryland to New England. As much as a foot of rain was recorded outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which declared a state of emergency.

Flood warnings were in effect in northern Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and upstate New York and flood watches were under way in eastern Pennsylvania, parts of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, parts of Maryland and Washington, D.C., according to the National Weather Service.

Some 65,000 people were evacuated from Wilkes-Barre and another 35,000 from surrounding counties, all threatened by the rising waters of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, said Stephen Urban, commissioner of Luzerne County.

The river was expected to crest at 40.7 feet later on Thursday evening, with levees in Wilkes-Barre built to withstand waters up to 41 feet, Urban said.
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2011, 10:33:24 PM »

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Thousands-leave-their-homes-as-Pa-rivers-rise-2160523.php
Thousands leave their homes as Pa. rivers rise
September 8, 2011

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people from the area overwhelmed by Hurricane Agnes nearly four decades ago left their homes Thursday as widespread flooding brought on by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee lashed already-waterlogged Pennsylvania and caused four deaths in the state.

Between 5 and 9 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state a little more than a week after the remnants of Hurricane Irene doused the East Coast. The soaking sent numerous waterways over their banks, including one northern Pennsylvania creek that undermined a bridge abutment, causing a partial collapse.

Luzerne County officials called for a mandatory evacuation of all communities along the Susquehanna River that were flooded in the historic Agnes deluge of 1972 — an order affecting up to 75,000 residents. Officials in Harrisburg said they evacuated 6,000 to 10,000 residents from low-lying areas.
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The river was projected to crest at 40.8 feet — essentially the same height as the levee system protecting riverfront communities including Wilkes-Barre and Kingston — at 2 a.m. Friday. The river reached 40.9 feet during the Agnes flood.

The rate at which the river is rising slowed dramatically, according to Jim Brozena, executive director of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority. It had been rising by as much as a foot an hour, but he said Thursday evening it was closer to a couple of inches an hour.

He noted that a recently replaced bridge linking Jenkins township with Wyoming borough was several feet lower than the old span. Though the new bridge was built to withstand a 100-year flood, the structure is acting more like a dam as the water pushes against it.

"If you're creating a dam, you're creating more problems," Brozena said, adding that it's worsening the flooding of homes around the bridge.

Residents were ordered to leave by 4 p.m. Thursday, and both main bridges crossing the Susquehanna into Wilkes-Barre were closed to traffic.

Luzerne County Emergency Management Director Steve Bekanich said the Susquehanna was already at the second-highest level in its recorded history, just behind the historic Agnes flood. He couldn't estimate how many people heeded the evacuation order but said that many thousands of residents had left.

"Everybody who wanted to leave, left," Bekanich said. "Those who didn't want to leave, we didn't have the authority to compel them to."

Shelters that offered space for close to 5,000 people were filling up and a couple were already full, said Luzerne County Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla.
Much more...
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« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2011, 06:57:07 AM »

http://abcnews.go.com/US/northeast-flooding-dead-100k-evacuate/story?id=14479419
Northeast Flooding: Five Dead as 100K Evacuate
September 9, 2011

Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River has crested and over 100,000 residents have been evacuated as remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have created flood zones in the already water-logged region.

A persistent area of low pressure associated with the Lee's remnants will remain over the area throughout the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. It is expected that the area will see an additional four to seven inches of rainfall in the coming days.

Of the five deaths that have been attributed to the flooding, one was a child who was caught in a storm drain by the rushing waters. The 8-year-old Pennsylvania boy was swept underwater into a storm drain that was approximately one foot in diameter, police said.

The city of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., issued a mandatory evacuation order for 8 p.m. Thursday which was moved back to 4 p.m. as the Susquehanna River rapidly swelled.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton asked residents to "be vigilant" and warned they should prepare themselves for an extended evacuation of a minimum 72 hours.

The Susquehanna reached 38.83 feet early Friday, three feet below the top of the levees, according to the Associated Press. The National Weather Service originally reported a crest of about 40.8 feet would not be reached until 8 a.m. Friday.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday that an emergency exists in Pennsylvania and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions.

About 1,200 National Guardsmen have been deployed across the state, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer, with approximately 1/3 headed for the Wilkes-Barre area -- which is cradled in the center of the Wyoming Valley region, with the Pocono Mountains to the east, the Endless Mountains to the west and the Lehigh Valley to the south.

Following flooding brought on by Hurricane Irene, water from swollen creeks and rivers continues to rise, seeping into town streets and into homes as residents attempt to salvage their belongings.
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Forty river gauges are in for major or record flooding, and historic flooding is expected in eight rivers throughout the region, including the Delaware and Passaic Rivers. Ten states are under flood watches, with warnings from Virginia to New Hampshire.

Upstate New York has also been hit hard, with Irene and Lee bringing the wettest year in history for the city of Binghamton, N.Y.

Retaining walls in the city's downtown area overflowed with water Thursday as the wide river broke a flood record. The local section of an interstate highway had to be shut down as rescue workers rushed to evacuate those who stayed behind to ride the flooding out, according to the Associated Press.
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New York Gov. Cuomo toured the area from the air as flood waters forced 1,600 residents to take shelter in a nearby gym.

High water is flooding stores, homes and schools in Johnson City, N.Y, as thousands of people were ordered to leave after heavy rains dumped the remnants of Lee.
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Downriver in Maryland, flood gates have been opened, causing whole towns to evacuate, while in the nearby Washington, D.C. area rising water caused parts of the capital beltway to close overnight.

At least 11 deaths have now been blamed on Lee, according to the Associated Press: four in central Pennsylvania, two in northern Virginia and one in Maryland, along with four others killed when it came ashore on the Gulf Coast last week.
Video at Link
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2011, 07:08:14 AM »

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/09/ap/business/main20103793.shtml
Days of rain turn into fatal East Coast flooding
September 9, 2011

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Days of rainfall from what had been Tropical Storm Lee inundated a wide portion of Pennsylvania and other northeastern states Thursday, pouring into basements and low-lying homes and forcing tens of thousands of people to seek higher ground. At least seven were left dead.

The damage was concentrated along the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre and other communities along the river. The National Weather Service said the Susquehanna crested above 38 feet Thursday night — below the top of the levee system protecting residents in northeastern Pennsylvania.
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President Barack Obama declared states of emergency in Pennsylvania and New York early Friday, clearing the way for federal aid.
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Late Thursday, Wilkes-Barre city crews scrambled to plug holes in the city's elaborate flood control system with sandbags. The river's dramatic rise began to slow, giving hope that the walls and earthen mounds would hold.

In nearby places unprotected by the levee system, however, emergency officials expected catastrophic flooding of 800 to 900 structures, as the river was likely to crest above some rooftops.

At least four deaths in Pennsylvania were at least partially attributed to flooding, while a fifth person was reported missing.

Derry Township Police Chief Patrick O'Rourke, outside Hershey, Pa., said the body of a man in his 70s was recovered from a home Wednesday after his basement walls collapsed.
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Randy Gockley, director of emergency management in Lancaster County, Pa., said a motorist near Lititz drowned inside a car early Thursday after a creek topped its banks. Another man was swept away while trying to wade through rushing flood waters, Gockley said.

Police in nearby Northern Lebanon Township said motorist William Canon was struck and killed by another vehicle after his was swamped by water. Police said he was trying to warn other drivers of the rising water when another man struck him and fled. The other motorist was arrested.

The rainfall caused problems in other parts of the East Coast, with fire officials in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., reporting that two people, including a child, died when they were swept away in rain-swollen waters Thursday night.

The heavy rains also shut down parts of the Capitol Beltway in Fairfax County, Va.; some portions have reopened. As many as 10 inches of rain have fallen in some places in the area around Washington since Wednesday.

In northeast Maryland, most of the 1,000 residents of Port Deposit were told to evacuate after the massive Conowingo Dam, upstream on the Susquehanna, opened its spill gates, and hundreds more were told to leave their homes in Havre de Grace, where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay. Shelters were opened in Perryville and Aberdeen, with river levels projected to be their highest since Hurricane Agnes.

Anne Arundel County, Md., police were treating the death of a Pasadena man as a drowning, pending autopsy results, after he was pulled from flood waters near his home.

There were also mandatory evacuations in a neighborhood along the Housatonic River in Shelton, Conn., just as residents were mopping up from the mess Hurricane Irene left behind.
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The mayor of Binghamton, N.Y., said severe Susquehanna River flooding was the worst in more than 60 years. Twenty thousand people were ordered to head for higher ground, and only emergency officials were allowed in the city.
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2011, 12:27:34 PM »

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/09/as-floodwaters-recede-tainted-water-a-concern/1
As floodwaters recede tainted water a concern
September 9, 2011

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