PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? Relentless rain triggered 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 swamped homes and businesses from Maryland to New England, and 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 underway 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, Pennsylvania early on Thursday and another 35,000 in surrounding counties were 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 and levies in Wilkes-Barre are built to withstand waters up to 41 feet, Urban said.
"Almost every town along the Susquehanna River has experienced flooding," said Governor Tom Corbett in a statement.
"In Hershey, the Swatara Creek has risen four times beyond its flood level," the governor said, referring to the town where a man died while bailing out water from his basement.
The homeowner, trapped when a basement wall collapsed, was one of three people killed by the storm in Pennsylvania.
The other deaths were in Lancaster County, where a 62-year-old woman in her car was caught in rushing flood waters in Elizabeth township and a man was swept away while trying to walk through rushing water 12 to 18 inches deep, authorities said.
Rivers and creeks already swollen by Hurricane Irene 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 the waves of rain predicted to continue through Thursday.
In New York, mandatory evacuations were declared for about 20,000 residents in Binghamton, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. There are also evacuations in other towns of Broome County, near the Pennsylvania border, as well as towns in Schenectady County and Schoharie County.
Tetanus shots were given by public health nurses to more than 1,200 residents and rescue workers in an effort to prevent disease from contaminated flood waters in Schoharie County.
Maryland also ordered several towns to evacuate, including Havre de Grace, with a population of about 11,000, and the tiny town of Port Deposit.
In the Philadelphia area flooding, mudslides and rock slides closed the busiest commuter highways, such as the Schuylkill Expressway and U.S. Route 1, and railways, such as four heavily traveled commuter lines run by the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority or SEPTA.
Among the New Jersey roads closed were busy Route 73, parts of Route 29 in Trenton along the banks of the Delaware River.
In New York, Amtrak shut rail service west of Albany and the officials anticipated numerous closures on the New York Thruway.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Lovering in Pittsburgh and Holly McKenna in Albany and John Rondy in Milwaukee; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)
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