Death toll at least 16 for Northeast floods

updated 10:02 p.m. ET June 29, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. - Muddy, coffee-colored floodwaters poured into homes, basements and stores on both sides of the Delaware River and rose as high as the street signs Thursday in some of the worst flooding to hit the Northeast in decades. At least 16 deaths were blamed on the deluge.

The city of Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania was spared when the newly raised levees held back the raging Susquehanna River, and officials lifted an evacuation order covering 200,000 people. But other communities drenched by days of record-breaking rain were not as lucky.

Along the swollen and still-rising Delaware River, thousands of people were driven from their homes, and officials closed 10 bridges connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania because of high water. The floodwaters reached as high as the street signs in Easton, Pa. On the other side of the river in Lambertville, N.J., ducks swam down a street of shuttered antiques shops.

Drinking water dwindling
The supply of drinking water was dwindling in Trenton, a day after the Delaware River forced the city’s water purification plant to shut down, and Gov. Jon S. Corzine declared a statewide emergency.

New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes warned people not to return home. “The sun is shining but the waters are still high. The Delaware is raging,” Fuentes said. “It will get better, but it will not get better today.”

Mary Iglesias, who was forced from her neighborhood in Trenton, worried about what she would find when her family is allowed to go back.

Slide show   Deadly deluge Days of torrential rains force evacuations, wash out roads and cause several deaths along the East Coast.

“We dragged everything up out of the basement and put all the furniture we could on top of tables or counters on the first floor,” she said. “We tried to take it up to the second floor, but nothing would fit up the stairs except the TV.”

No damage estimate
There were no immediate damage estimates. But New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said the flood looked a lot like one in April 2005 that caused $30 million in damage.

Herbert Sandor, who owns a building on Main Street in New Hope, Pa. — a quaint town 30 miles north of Philadelphia that is popular with tourists and antiques collectors — said the 10 stores in the building he owns were spared, but basement offices, including those of his wife’s advertising agency, were under 5 feet of water.

“It’s a disaster,” he said.

Monica Taylor stood on the edge of the floodwaters in the flood-prone Island section of Trenton, wondering how badly her home had been damaged. In 2005, she had 2½ feet of water in her basement and was afraid there might be more this time.

“We’ve been through this before, but I don’t plan to get used to it,” she said.

More heavy rain and thunderstorms were possible in Pennsylvania and New Jersey late Thursday, but Friday was expected to be dry in most of the region.

In Maryland, a new round of evacuations was ordered in Cecil County as the rising Susquehanna threatened about 300 homes. About 2,200 residents downstream from a dam in Rockville were asked to stay away from their homes for fear the dam would break. Needwood Lake, 25 feet above normal Tuesday night, had dropped several feet by Thursday afternoon, but crews were still dumping loads of gravel on a leak.

MORE FROM WEATHER

Weather Section Front

Calif. fire flares near Yosemite Valley Just 27 California wildfires remain South Texans sort through Dolly's mess Tornado confirmed in N.H. town  Even after Hurricane Katrina, many won't leave Only 33 wildfires still burning in Calif. Iowa hit with 100 mph winds, outages Tropical storm floods southern Taiwan Lightning remains a striking mystery Weather Section Front   Add Weather headlines to your news reader: