Remnants of Lee bring floods to soggy Northeast

[September 08, 2011]  WINDHAM, N.Y. (AP) -- From Maryland to New England, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee on Thursday flooded roads and highways, swelled waterways and put emergency responders still weary from dealing with last week's cleanup back on alert.

As rivers and streams rose dangerously from flash flooding, many East Coast residents began the now familiar process of bailing water from basements or even heading to public shelters.

Two rain-related deaths were reported in Pennsylvania. Police in Derry Township said a man who was removing water from his basement was killed when the house's foundation collapsed, and a motorist trapped in a vehicle drowned early Thursday morning in Elizabeth Township, in Lancaster County.

"Now it's getting on my last nerves," said Carol Slater, 53, of Huntersfield, N.Y., on the northern edge of New York's Catskill Mountains and just outside of hard-hit Prattsville.

As rain washed out the tennis matches for the second straight day at the U.S. Open in New York City, the National Weather Service predicted it would continue to fall heavily across the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states through Thursday with anywhere from 4 to 7 more inches falling and up to 10 inches in isolated pockets. Flood watches and warnings were up throughout the region.

In Pennsylvania, rain set off flash flooding across a wide swath of the state, shutting down roads, closing some schools early and forcing evacuations.

Flooding and a rock slide on Thursday closed the eastbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway, a major artery into Philadelphia and it could take hours for the road to reopen.

"The same areas are getting hit repeatedly," by rain, said Larry Nierenberg, a national weather service spokesman who monitors an area that includes Greater Philadelphia and most of New Jersey.

On Wednesday, near Trenton, N.J., he said a half inch of rain fell in 10 minutes. "You get something like that and it can drop 2-3 inches of rain in an hour, and then it will move on."

New York positioned rescue workers, swift-water boats and helicopters with hoists to respond quickly in the event of flash flooding. Teams stood by in Vermont, which bore the brunt of Irene's remnants last week, and hundreds of Pennsylvania residents were told to flee a rising creek.

Areas of New York's Broome County, including portions of downtown Binghamton, were being evacuated Thursday morning as heavy rains caused flood levels on the Susquehanna River and other creeks and tributaries. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was installing flood control gates in several locations throughout the county, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who planned to tour the region on Thursday.

Numerous sections of the New York Thruway, including exit ramps, flooded Wednesday night and motorists were advised to take alternate roads, but many of them, too, were covered with water.

On Wednesday afternoon, Prattsville was cut off, its main roads covered with water as public works crews tried to dredge the creeks to alleviate the flooding. Trash bins stood in the mud-caked streets to collect debris left by Irene and the wreckage of houses destroyed by the earlier storm still dotted the area.

Heavy rain fell, and residents were ready to evacuate as the Schoharie Creek escaped its banks and smaller streams showed significant flooding.

"Businesses and residential areas were devastated before," Wayne Speenburgh, chairman of the Greene County Legislature, said of Prattsville. "Downtown, there's nobody living because there's no homes to live in."

In nearby Middleburgh, dozens of residents were evacuated from temporary shelters set up in schools, many for the third time since Irene hit. Many businesses remained empty but were adorned with hopeful signs -- like the one at Hubie's Pizzeria -- that they would reopen.

Flooding also led to voluntary evacuations in the Catskills town of Shandaken, Rotterdam Junction near Albany, and a section of Schenectady along the Mohawk River. Some schools in the Hudson Valley north of New York City closed or delayed start times.

Patrick Darling said he and wife Dawn are trying to keep their sense of humor while dealing with a second week of flooding.

"We have stress, lots of stress," he said after using shovels to clear mud and debris from his neighbors' homes. "We've been shoveling our stress out."

Lee formed just off the Louisiana coast late last week and gained strength as it lingered in the Gulf for a couple of days. It dumped more than a foot of rain in New Orleans and trudged across Mississippi and Alabama.

Tornadoes spawned by Lee damaged hundreds of homes, and flooding knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. Trees were uprooted and roads were flooded. Winds fanned wildfires in Louisiana and Texas, and the storm even kicked up tar balls on the Gulf Coast.

At least four people died. Irene was blamed for at least 46 deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

In Maryland, firefighters were among those who had to be rescued Wednesday as storms flooded roads, stranding drivers who had to be pulled from rushing water and pushing residents from their homes.

A swift-water rescue boat capsized in the Patapsco River near Catonsville as firefighters responded to rescue calls near the Howard County line, Baltimore County spokeswoman Elise Armacost said, adding that all firefighters were later accounted for.

A flood watch was in effect through Thursday afternoon in soggy Vermont. Parts of the state are still recovering from flooding from the remnants of Irene, which was a tropical storm by the time it swept over the area.

Irene hit upstate New York and Vermont particularly hard, with at least 12 deaths in those areas and dozens of highways damaged or washed out. Several communities in Vermont were cut off entirely and required National Guard airdrops to get supplies.

Flood watches or warnings were in place through Thursday night for much of Pennsylvania.

Flash flooding shut down dozens of Pennsylvania highways Wednesday and forced the evacuation of some riverfront trailer parks and campgrounds, while state officials braced for potentially worse problems along the swollen Susquehanna River. Other damage on Wednesday included a mudslide in Lancaster County, and two zoo animals that were caught in rising floodwaters in Hershey had to be euthanized.

In New Jersey, where many residents were still cleaning up after Irene, the remnants of Lee were expected to drop anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain. There was some flooding along rivers including the Passaic, which breached its banks during Irene and caused serious damage. Heavier flooding is expected Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the open Atlantic, Hurricane Katia brought rough surf to the East Coast but was not expected to make landfall in the U.S. Tropical Storm Maria also formed Wednesday far out in the Atlantic, but it was too soon to tell if and where it might make landfall.

[Associated Press; By MICHAEL GORMLEY]

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Hill and Rik Stevens in Albany, N.Y.; John Curran in Montpelier, Vt.; Genaro C. Armas in State College, Pa.; Bill Poovey in Chattanooga and Alex Dominguez in Baltimore.

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