Northeast floods force thousands to scramble

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee poured water on top of the already soaked Northeast on Thursday, closing hundreds of roads and forcing evacuation orders for more than 100,000 people from the Susquehanna River’s worst flooding in nearly 40 years.

Most of the evacuations were ordered in and around Wilkes-Barre, where the levee system is just high enough to hold back the river if it crests at the predicted level. Even if the levees hold, 800 to 900 unprotected homes were in danger. If they fail, thousands of buildings could be lost.

“This is a scary situation,” said Stephen Bekanich, Luzerne County’s emergency management director. He and other officials were confident the levees would work but sought volunteers to lay sandbags on both sides of the river.

In Binghamton, N.Y., a city of about 45,000, the Susquehanna coursed into the streets and climbed halfway up lampposts at a downtown plaza. Mayor Matt Ryan said it was the city’s worst flooding since the flood walls were built in the 1930s and ’40s.

Road closures effectively sealed Binghamton off to outside traffic as emergency responders scrambled to evacuate holdouts who didn’t heed warnings to leave.

“It’s going to get worse,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, warning people to leave when they get the order.

Up to nine inches of rain fell in parts of Pennsylvania, and a similar amount fell in Binghamton. Rivers and streams passed or approached flood stage from Maryland to Massachusetts, and experts said more flooding was coming.