Flooding danger remains in East as residents evacuate to shelters
Water damage at IRS headquarters will close it for a month.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) -- Levees around this vulnerable city held against the swollen Susquehanna River on Thursday, ending an evacuation order for 200,000, but other towns anxiously watched as rivers approached record crests that threatened to extend the misery from flooding that already has killed at least 14 people.
Emergency officials kept a close eye on the Susquehanna early Thursday, but said conditions were improving and that a recently improved levee system was holding back floodwaters. The river crested at just over 34 feet -- below expectations and well shy of the top of the 41-foot floodwall.
Some of the 300 people who spent the night at GAR Memorial Junior-High School in Wilkes-Barre were loading onto buses for the trip home Thursday morning, carrying personal items in plastic trash bags. Few complained about the evacuation order, even if it proved a precaution.
"You can't predict the future, and it was too close to be sure," said Sheryl Snyder, 41, a physical therapist who spent the night in the busy shelter.
In New Jersey, Gov. Jon S. Corzine declared a statewide emergency Wednesday night. Floodwaters rose in town after town along the upper Delaware River Thursday, and a near-record crest was expected to sweep down the river from north to south.
State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes warned evacuated residents not to return home.
"The sun is shining but the waters are still high. The Delaware is raging," Fuentes said at a Thursday morning news conference. "It will get better, but it will not get better today."
Residents prepare
Mary Iglesias and her extended family worried about what they would find when they return to their Trenton home.
"We dragged everything up out of the basement, and put all the furniture we could on top of tables or counters on the first floor," Iglesias said. "We tried to take it up to the second floor, but nothing would fit up the stairs except the TV."
Althea Alford and her 75-year-old mother were making their third visit to a disaster shelter in less than two years. Flooding in September 2004 and April 2005 destroyed their oil furnace and other basement appliances.
"We're just praying," Alford said. "It's more depressing now because it's the third time."
Ten bridges connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania were closed Thursday, as were several roads near the Delaware River.
National Weather Service meteorologist Anthony Gigi said the Delaware was cresting Thursday morning in Phillipsburg at a bit over 36 feet -- more than 14 feet over flood stage. Debris-choked water thundered against a bridge in downtown Phillipsburg and, across the river in Pennsylvania, Easton's downtown was under water.
The crest was expected later in the day in Trenton at around 25.5 feet. That would make it the fourth-worst recorded flood in the city, though less severe than the 28 feet or so that forecasters were expecting early Wednesday.
More to come
More rain also was expected Thursday in New York state, where an entire house had floated down the Susquehanna River in the Binghamton area. By Thursday morning, nearly 3,000 people were staying in emergency shelters, according to Dennis Michalski of the State Emergency Management Office
The rains, which began over the weekend, have been blamed for five deaths each in Pennsylvania and Maryland, one in Virginia and three in New York.
In Maryland, rescuers found the body of a 14-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters earlier this week. A 16-year-old boy who went with him to look at a rain-swollen waterway is presumed dead, authorities said.
Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation in Montgomery County neighborhoods near Lake Needwood, on the north side of Rockville, where engineers observed soft and weakened spots on the lake's earthen dam.
By 5:30 a.m. Thursday, police and rescue crews had completed an evacuation of 500 apartment units and 700 homes. About 100 people refused to leave, said Bruce Romer, Montgomery County's chief administrative officer. If the dam were to break, water could flood nearby roads up to 20 feet deep, county officials said.
In Washington, D.C., where record rains over the weekend flooded the basements of many government buildings, the IRS said its headquarters will remain closed for at least a month as it repairs tens of millions of dollars in flood damage. The agency said IRS service and tax enforcement will not be affected.
The building's subbasement, which holds all of the building's electrical and maintenance systems, was submerged under 20 feet of water, and basement flooding damaged offices, furniture, computer equipment and vehicles.
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