At least five people were killed in Pennsylvania and Virginia and more than 130,000 people were evacuated on Thursday in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.
The swollen Susquehanna River crested in the hard-hit northeastern Pennsylvania city of Wilkes-Barre before dawn at 11.8 meters, with no breach of levees built to withstand 12.5 meters of water, officials said.
“This level will go down in the record books as the second highest crest, falling short of the record flood stage of 12.4 meters set by (Hurricane) Agnes in 1972,” meteorologist Meghan Evans said on Accuweather.com.
Heavy rainfall ended over much of the region but spotty downpours were predicted throughout the day, according to meteorologist Alex Sosnowski on Accuweather.com.
The most severely flooded were small towns without dikes along the Susquehanna River about 80 km north and south of Wilkes-Barre. One Pennsylvania college town, Bloomsburg, was under water and closed to all but emergency workers.
Dikes at Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, on the opposite side of the Susquehanna, were raised as much as 3.7 meters and fortified following the devastating flood caused by Hurricane Agnes.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett told residents to steer clear of the river waters, which were turned into a toxic mess after flooding washed out 10 sewage processing plants.
Corbett, his wife and their two dogs left the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg on Thursday after water began seeping into the basement, his press office said. The evacuation of the mansion, facing the raging Susquehanna, was reminiscent of the flood caused by Hurricane Agnes when then-Governor Milton Shapp and his wife had to flee rising floodwaters.
National Guard troops went house to house in a search and rescue mission in West Pittston, a nearly submerged town without levees.
Rising rivers and stressed dams and levees presented the latest challenge to states still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Irene, which caused flooding in late August.
The torrential rain in recent days came from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, which earlier soaked the US Gulf Coast, including the city of New Orleans.
“My nightmare is the mud and the smell and the cleaning,” said Annette Billings, who was evacuated to a shelter with her son Brandon and their dog from their ground-floor apartment in Luzerne, a Wilkes-Barre suburb.
Flood warnings were issued for Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts and flash flood watches remained in effect in Maryland, Virginia and the US capital Washington, according to the National Weather Service.
Among those who disregarded evacuation orders were residents of Tunkhannock and Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, normally picturesque Susquehanna River towns now under 2.4 meters of water, who rode out the flood in their bedrooms and attics.
