FLOODY HELL; RECORD RAINFALL WREAKS HAVOC IN AMERICA 200,000 people evacuated as 13 are killed.Byline: By Charlie Gall HUNDREDS of thousands of people fled flooding in the US after torrential rain killed at least 13 people. The swollen Susquehanna River Susquehanna River River, central New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, U.S. One of the longest rivers in the eastern U.S., it is about 444 mi (715 km) long. It rises in Otsego Lake, central New York, and winds through the Appalachian Mountains before flowing into northern rose to within a few feet of 41ft levees protecting the area around Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania. About 200,000 people there were ordered out, with smaller evacuations in 200,000 people evacuated as 13 are killed New Jersey, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of state and Maryland. Rescue helicopters plucked residents from rooftops as rivers broke their banks, washed out roads and bridges, and cut off villages. Yesterday, the Susqehanna appeared to be receding and officials ended the evacuation order. They said the levees, built just three years ago, had held well. But other towns in the north-east of America were anxiously waiting as more rain was forecast. The authorities in Pennsylvania were still concerned about rising water on the Delaware River Delaware River River in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, U.S. Formed by the junction of its eastern and western branches in southern New York, it flows about 405 mi (650 km) to empty into the Atlantic Ocean at Delaware Bay. Navigable to Trenton, N.J. yesterday. State governor Ed Rendell said yesterday: "I think we dodged a bullet on the Susquehanna. The Delaware is still the biggest problem." The record rainfall, which began over the weekend, has been blamed for five deaths in Pennsylvania, four deaths in Maryland, one in Virginia and three in NewYork. Flooding closed many roads in the Philadelphia area, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In New Jersey, the Lambertville sewage and dechlorination plants were both under water on Thursday morning, possibly contaminating the Delaware River, as well as the water supply, emergency planning officials said. CAPTION(S): TRAPPED: Small planes surrounded by rising water at Bloomsburg Airport. Left, the overflowing Delaware rises to the level of a bridge between Easton, Pennsylvania, and Phillipsburg, New Jersey Phillipsburg, known locally as P'burg, is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 15,166. AP' DAMAGE: A car lies in a sink-hole. Above, flooding in New York state |
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