Floodwaters recede; toxins, sewage left behind

Stretches of the swollen Susquehanna River in New York and Pennsylvania were receding Friday morning after days of rainfall from what had been Tropical Storm Lee flooded communities around the Northeast, sweeping homes off their foundations and forcing nearly 100,000 people to seek higher ground. At least 11 deaths have been blamed on Lee and its remnants.

Meantime, officials warned that the floodwaters were tainted with sewage and other toxins.

"We face a public health emergency because sewage treatment plants are underwater and no longer working," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said as flooding from Lee's drenching rains inundated central and eastern Pennsylvania.

"Flood water is toxic and polluted. If you don't have to be in it, keep out," he added. "We're worried about people even getting near the water."

The damage was concentrated along the Susquehanna in Wilkes-Barre and dozens of miles up the river in Binghamton, N.Y., as well as other communities along the river. The National Weather Service said the Susquehanna crested above 38 feet Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre ? below the top of the levee system protecting residents in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The flood waters that inundated the city of Binghamton and surrounding communities were receding Friday morning, but there was no indication yet when some of the 20,000 evacuees could expect to return to their homes.

Broome County Deputy Emergency Manager Raymond Serowik told The Associated Press that the Susquehanna was receding slowly and that authorities were just beginning to gain access to some areas to assess the damage from Thursday's record flooding.

The mayor of Binghamton said the flooding was the worst in more than 60 years.

Lee's impact was felt widely in already waterlogged Pennsylvania, as authorities closed countless roadways, including some heavily traveled interstates, and evacuation shelters were opened to serve the many displaced people. Similar scenarios played out in Maryland and New York, but the fading storm's wrath was also felt from Connecticut to Virginia.

President Barack Obama declared states of emergency in Pennsylvania and New York early Friday, clearing the way for federal aid.

Fed by Tropical Storm Lee
Rose Simko was among some 75,000 residents of Wilkes-Barre and neighboring communities who left Thursday under a mandatory evacuation order. As she packed her belongings into a car and prepared to drive away from her home, which sits about 150 feet from Wilkes-Barre's levee, she said she knew she had to get out.

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"Everything is replaceable," she said, "but my life is not."

Evacuees were told to expect to stay at least until Sunday or Monday, and it will be some time before officials get a handle on the damage that included a partial bridge collapse in northern Pennsylvania, vehicles and other property swept away, and failed sewage treatment plants.

"We're going to have some damage, but you won't know until it's over," said Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton.

The flooding was fed by drenching rains from Tropical Storm Lee that continued for days, and followed a little more than a week the dousing that Hurricane Irene gave the East Coast. In some areas of Pennsylvania the rainfall totals hit 9 inches or more, on top of what was already a relatively wet summer.

People in many small towns and rural areas in central Pennsylvania scrambled to get their families and their belongings out of harm's way as waters sometimes rose with frightening speed.

• In West Pittston, which is near Wilkes-Barre but unprotected by the levees, several hundred homes were under water ? many to the second floor, said former Mayor Bill Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy's own home was among those inundated.?
• It was the same story downriver in Plymouth Township, where floodwater swamped about 80 businesses and houses.
• Further down the Susquehanna River in Bloomsburg, flood waters topped the height reached by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and were expected to crest just short of the record set by a 1904 flood.
• Harrisburg evacuated 6,000 to 10,000 residents in low-lying areas, while in Luzerne County, Pa., which includes Wilkes-Barre, the evacuation order covered all communities along the Susquehanna River that were flooded in the historic Hurricane Agnes deluge of 1972.

About 75 people and five pets were staying at a Red Cross shelter at Solomon-Plains Elementary School in Plains Township, outside Wilkes-Barre, many clustered around a big-screen TV to watch news coverage of the flooding.

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5 straight days of rain
Christina Holmes, 38, came with her fianc? and three children. Before leaving their apartment in Wilkes-Barre, they unplugged appliances and picked up items off the floor. Holmes said she's been told to expect to stay at the shelter at least through Sunday.

"I'm trying to make the best of it," she said. "I brought the (playing) cards. I brought the games for the kids."

She said it's been a long time since they've seen sunny, blue skies.

"We've had rain for about five straight days and it's like, as soon as it's done, it picks back up," Holmes said.

Slideshow: Northeast states flood (on this page)

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Rivers and creeks still swollen by Hurricane Irene two weeks ago threatened cities and towns throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, and were poised to smash records.

"It's like Irene without the wind," meteorologist Elliot Abrams on Accuweather.com said of torrential rains. To the north, a dozen Vermont towns flooded by Hurricane Irene were still on boil-water orders 12 days later, though officials reported no waterborne illness.

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Similar precautions have been taken throughout other storm-damaged states.

In Waterbury, the municipal wastewater plant was overwhelmed by flooding from Irene and raw sewage flowed into the Winooski River.

The smell of sewage was still strong Thursday in the mud- and muck-stained driveway where Air Force Master Sgt. Joe Bishop, 35, was home on leave ? after a tour in Iraq and three in Afghanistan ? trying to salvage what he could from his elderly parents' home.

"I've been drinking bottled water," Bishop said, and cleaning up with jugs of water from a tanker truck positioned down the road by emergency officials.

He said he's trying to clean his father's power tools and other items but with limited water, the task has been difficult.

"You can't pressure-wash anything," he said. He had no idea when his parents' water service would be restored.

Vermont's state health department, which regulates private water wells, urged residents to check their wells for bacteria with free testing kits it is distributing.

If their water smells like gasoline or other petroleum products, officials said the wells would have to be further tested for toxic substances.

Video: River ?up 30 feet in about 36 hours? (on this page)

Officials in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia, which were also hit hard by Irene, said drinking-water quality had not been compromised.

In addition to concerns about water-borne illness, residents of affected areas were being urged to avoid exposure to water and mud possibly polluted with household chemicals and paints.

"It's mind-boggling to think about what could possibly be in there," said Kim Greenwood, state scientist with the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

"Most Vermonters would never think I should pour my antifreeze in the brook, or my latex paint or my chain saw oil," Greenwood said. "The person who cares least about the environment would never dump this stuff in. But we've inadvertently dumped the worst from our households into (streams)."

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44449393/ns/weather/

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