Nine Killed in Northeast Floods!!!

[holysoldier5000]

This story is where I live!

From foxnews.com

Storms swept into the Northeast on Wednesday, forcing thousands of people from their homes, including more than 2,200 who fled from a rising Maryland lake. A section of interstate highway was washed out in New York state and at least nine deaths were blamed on the stormy weather, and three people were missing.

After days of heavy rain and floods, the sun was shining in Washington, D.C., as the storm moved into New York and New England. Rivers were still rising in Virginia after four days of downpours and highways across the region were blocked by flooding and washouts.

"We don't have anywhere to go," evacuee Mehader Mekonne said Wednesday at a shelter in Montgomery County, Md.

The largest numbers of evacuations were ordered in an area surrounding Lake Needwood on the north side of Rockville, MD., which was approaching 25 feet above normal Wednesday, Montgomery County officials said.

Engineers found weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam, with water seeping through in places, said Bruce Romer, the county's chief administrative officer. Engineers were inspecting the dam Wednesday to determine what could be done to strengthen it.

By Wednesday morning, police and rescue crews had evacuated residents of 500 apartments and 700 homes, Romer said. About 100 people refused to leave, he said. If the dam were to break, it could flood some areas as much as 20 feet, officials said.

New York state emergency officials said a section of Interstate 88 was washed out about 35 miles northeast of Binghamton and two people were dead. State police report that two bridges on the highway "are down."

Ten New York counties declared states of emergency, and Gov. George Pataki activated the National Guard for evacuation support and engineering, according to the state's Emergency Management Office. Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes in the Binghamton area because of flooding on the Susquehanna and other rivers, along with residents of scattered areas in the eastern part of the state.

Along with I-88, Interstate 81 also was closed in the Binghamton area. The city got a record 4.05 inches of rain Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

Interstate 81 also was closed at Lenox in northeastern Pennsylvania, where the small towns of New Milford and Lanesboro were evacuated, state police said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell declared a disaster emergency in 46 of the state's 67 counties Wednesday.

Officials in Alexandria, Va., urged residents and businesses to prepare for high water on the Potomac River, and states of emergency were declared Tuesday for Sussex County, Del., and the District of Columbia. The Virginia Department of Transportation said more than 200 roads ware closed by high water.

Along the Delaware River, Trenton, N.J., Mayor Douglas H. Palmer ordered residents to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods to evacuate.

"Unfortunately, our county residents along the river are becoming all too experienced at this," said David Gallant, public safety director for Warren County in northwestern New Jersey.

Residents also had been evacuated from low-lying communities in parts of Virginia, where volunteers stacked at least 5,000 pounds of sandbags to protect the town of Buchanan from the James River, expected to crest at 9 feet above flood stage.

In addition to the two reported dead in New York, the weather was blamed for one traffic death in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland. A 15-year-old boy drowned in a lake in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County and his mother's boyfriend drowned trying to rescue him, police said.

Three people died in western Maryland when they were washed out of the bed of a pickup truck shortly after they were rescued from a car that stalled in high water late Tuesday, authorities said. The three young adults were rescued by passersby, but then the rescuers' truck got stuck in rushing water, said Frederick County fire and rescue services spokesman Michael Dmuchowski.

Elsewhere in Maryland, a search resumed Wednesday for two youths, ages 14 and 15, who were reported missing near a swollen creek, said state police 1st Sgt. Russell Newell. Searchers found a bicycle and clothing near the creek. [[[These two boys are friends of me sister.]]]

Teams in Virginia searched for an 8-year-old girl swept away by high water in Alleghany County.

[Jingo Jaden]

I will pray for the people involved. That is so sad.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

*nod nod* I was out of power for 6 hours

[ashfire]

We had alot of flooding throughout the DC area.
One of our county public works buildings had 2 ft of water in it and damaged equipment.
Many homes in one area have been flooded many times and the county decided to update the pumping station after this incident.
The City of Laural Maryland had half of it flooded after the Rocky Gorge Dam open the flood gates to releave some of the water.

[holysoldier5000]

Here is the latest on the flooding...
Source Foxnews.com

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."

Click here for the Natural Disaster Content Center

An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people in the county of about 351,000 were told to get out by nightfall. The evacuation order applied to more than half the residents of Wilkes-Barre, as well residents of several outlying towns, all of them flooded by Agnes more than three decades ago.

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.

Laura Lockman, 42, of Wilkes-Barre packed a car and planned to clear out along with her husband, three kids and a puppy named Pebbles. They were not ordered to evacuate their brick home, a half-mile from the Susquehanna, but were going to nearby Scranton anyway for the children's safety. Their home was inundated in 1972, when water reached the second floor.

"I just want to get out of here. I just want to be safe, that's all," she said.

The newsrooms of the Times Leader and The Citizens' Voice left their downtown Wilkes-Barre offices and planned to print their Thursday editions elsewhere.

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.

"We lost just about everything — the cars, the clothes, even the baby's crib," said James Adams, who evacuated his family's home near Binghamton, N.Y., after watching their shed float away and their cars get submerged. "I'm not sure what we are going to do."

Elsewhere in the Binghamton area, an entire house floated down the Susquehanna.

The soaking weather was produced by a low-pressure system that has been stalled just offshore since the weekend and pumped moist tropical air northward along the East Coast. A record 4.05 inches of rain fell Tuesday at Binghamton. 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.

Earlier this week, floodwaters in the nation's capital closed the National Archives, the IRS, the Justice Department and other major government buildings, and toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn. The National Archives, several Smithsonian museums and some government office buildings were still closed Wednesday.

The National Archives moved in giant dehumidifiers to preserve its historic documents. "The threat to the records is not floodwater, but humidity from the lack of air conditioning," spokeswoman Susan Cooper said Wednesday.

An estimated 2,200 people were ordered to evacuate the area around Lake Needwood at Rockville, Md., which was approaching 25 feet above normal. Engineers reported weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam.

A swollen creek carved a 25-foot-deep chasm through all four lanes of Interstate 88, about 35 miles northeast of Binghamton, N.Y., and two truckers were killed early Wednesday when their rigs plunged into the gaps, officials said.

Thousands of people were evacuated from communities across New York state, and whole villages north of Binghamton County were isolated by high water.

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. He activated more than 300 National Guard members to help with evacuations and rescues and conduct traffic.

Along the Delaware River, more than 1,000 people left low-lying areas of Trenton, N.J., and state employees in buildings along the river left work early.

Trenton's water filtration system was shut down because of debris floating down the Delaware, and Mayor Doug Palmer called for conservation, saying the city had only about two days of drinkable water. The river was expected to crest Friday at nearly 8 feet over flood stage, the fourth-highest level on record for Trenton.

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, including the two truckers.

The Agnes flood caused 50 deaths and more than $2 billion in damage in Pennsylvania, and remains the worst natural disaster in state history. It left 20,000 families homeless in Wilkes-Barre and surrounding Luzerne County towns.

Afterward, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook one of the most ambitious flood-control projects east of the Mississippi River, raising the existing levees by 3 to 5 feet. The $200 million project was finally completed in 2003.

[Yahshua]

Let prays for the Northeast and the families that are affect by this.

[mitsuki lover]

My dad has a cousin on my grandmother's side who lives in the Mechanicsburg,Pa.
area.We got an e-mail from him yesterday that said so far they haven't been hit by the flooding but everyone is prepared just in case.

[Puguni]

I keep thinking back to Katrina on this, but this isn't as nearly as bad. Still...I live Northeast. T3T! It rains all the time, and I'm so glad to see the sunshine right now.