200,000 flee worst US floods for decades.

LEVEES around the vulnerable city of Wilkes - Barre, Pennsylvania, held against the swollen Susquehanna River yesterday, ending an evacuation order for 200,000 people.

Other towns anxiously watched as rivers approached record crests that threatened to extend the misery from the East's worst flooding in decades. Emergency officials kept a close eye on the Susquehanna, but said conditions were improving.

Officials estimated that at least 50,000 had followed the evacuation order. Most of them were told yesterday they could return to their homes.

Pennsylvania officials were still concerned about rising water on the Delaware River, and more rain was expected for New York state, where thousands have already fled from rising rivers, swelled by a record-breaking deluge.

The rains, which began over the weekend, have been blamed for five deaths in Pennsylvania, four deaths in Maryland, one in Virginia and three in New York.

Besides Pennsylvania's evacuees, thousands of others were ordered to leave their homes in New Jersey, Maryland and New York as rivers surged over their banks, and washed out roads and bridges, in some of the worst flooding in the region in decades.

CAPTION(S):

Children trudge through the water in Dolgeville, New York State, yesterday