Binghamton area residents urged to stay put

Flooded out, people start to return to Binghamton
September 9, 2011

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - Forced from their homes as the Susquehanna River surged toward record floods, some people began trudging back to waterlogged homes Friday where they faced a long road to full recovery.

More than 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate as the slogging remnants of Tropical Storm Lee threatened to inundate the already-sodden region with heavy rains. The catastrophic flooding and property damage officials warned of never materialized, but the storm still pushed rivers over their banks, swamped homes and closed roads.

Some suggested the city overreacted with its dire warnings and large-scale evacuation. Officials were on high alert and taking no chances, though, after Tropical Storm Irene surprised people by largely sparing the coastal areas and New York City and instead inundating interior New York and Vermont with punishing rains and savage flooding.

"It's depressing," Sequen Thompson, 29, said of the response. "This was too much for too little. They shut everything off."

Mayor Matt Ryan said people should wait to see the damage before passing judgment.

"That is totally not true," he said. "In my opinion, we did exactly what we should. I'd like to hear them say that to people who were affected. We didn't close down any areas that we didn't think had a chance of being severely affected."

Much of the city remained nearly empty Friday as officials surveyed the area to determine the extent of damage.

"It's going to be a long, long process to get this city back on track again," Ryan said. "This is a big deal."

Among the priorities are getting the sewage treatment plant running again. Sewage is currently flowing straight into the Susquehanna. Ryan also said officials would work to open up streets and get businesses reopened. Power remained out for about 20,000 people in the flood zone and a boil-water order was in effect.

The south side business district is under water, and many homes in the first ward are damaged. Some of the flooding is at rooftop levels in the low-lying areas near the river, Ryan said.

Some people already were making it back into flooded areas.

By the time 35-year-old Robert Smith, evacuated his apartment at 11 p.m. Wednesday, the Susquehanna had flooded well over 100 yards, getting into his building. He spent more than 24 hours at a shelter at Binghamton University's Events Center. He said he and others who did not know each other were able to work together. When a woman collapsed on the floor, strangers rushed to aid her.

"Everybody was helping each other out, just total strangers," he said. "You've never seen it before in your life."

Smith got back home about noon Friday, one of the first to re-enter the evacuation zone in one of the poorer sections of the city. Mud and debris covered the streets, and standing water was still blocking roads two blocks from the river.

He said more than 2,500 people, mostly women and children, were fed pasta, tossed salad and snacks in the shelter that was "wall-to-wall cots." Evacuees "just sat in front of the TV and watched the weather," he said. Conditions began to get uncomfortable.

"Just when you thought no more people could come in, they brought more in," he said. "It just started getting hot and crowded, and it began to stink."

Hundreds of cots were in rows and hundreds more chairs were set up where older people sat, with canes at their sides. Many of the people inside were disabled. Dozens of police, Red Cross workers and university students were on hand to help.

Outside, some evacuees napped in their cars and dried out on the cloudy, warm, dry day.

Binghamton's public housing buildings took a big hit from the flooding. The Susquehanna overflowed a stretch of more than 100 yards of flood wall near the buildings, leaving behind 2 to 3 feet of muddy water.

Six college students were hoping to distribute food, clothing and Bibles to residents near the flooded and evacuated area, where the Binghamton Housing Authority has many of apartments.

"We tell them the Lord challenges us in difficult times," said Davis College student Alan Outman, 21, of Binghamton

There were no reports of deaths in New York.

Broome County Executive Patrick Brennan said all three water filtration plants near Binghamton were down Friday and there was an advisory for county residents to boil water for drinking. He said about 20,000 people still couldn't get to their homes as of late Friday afternoon and about 3,000 people were in shelters.

State Sen. Thomas Libous told The Associated Press the recovery could take "weeks and months."

"This will be a life-changing experience for some people," he said.
"Their homes may not exist."

Parts of interstate Routes 81 and 88 are still closed, and some stretches won't be open until midweek.

The Susquehanna crested at 8 p.m. Thursday at 25.7 feet, more than 11 feet above flood stage but below the 26 feet predicted earlier in the day, according to National Weather Service data. It had dropped by more than 4 feet Friday afternoon, and still was falling.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo was back in Binghamton area early Friday afternoon where he met state lawmakers at the airport in Johnson City to announce help for the flood-ravaged Southern Tier.

President Barack Obama has declared a disaster for upstate New York flooding, this time including the Southern Tier counties of Broome, Chenango, Chemung and Tioga.

Pa., NY see waters subside as Md. awaits the worst
September 9, 2011

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Northern stretches of the swollen Susquehanna River began receding Friday after days of rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee flooded communities from Virginia to New York, leading to evacuation orders for nearly 100,000 people. Some evacuees were allowed back home.

The damage was concentrated along the Susquehanna in Binghamton, N.Y.; in towns up- and downriver from levee-protected Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where more than 70,000 people were told to evacuate; and communities farther downstream in Maryland.

The Susquehanna crested at 42.66 feet Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre - beyond the design capacity of the city's levee system and higher than the record set in historic flooding spawned by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

"They did what was right for them, the people down there," said Tom Vaxmonsky, a resident of West Pittson, just upstream from Wilkes-Barre. "But it's like everything else, for every action there's a reaction. And the reaction is that we got a lot more water than we did in `72 with the Agnes flood."

As flood waters that inundated the city of Binghamton, which the mayor called the worst in more than 60 years, and surrounding communities began subsiding, the first of the 20,000 evacuees began returning to their homes.

Robert Smith, 35, made it back around noon to his home in a struggling section of Binghamton. Mud and debris covered pavement, and water still blocked streets closest to the river. But he felt inspired by the time he spent in a shelter; when a woman collapsed on the floor there, he said, strangers rushed to tend to her.

"Everybody was helping each other out, just total strangers," he said. "You've never seen it before in your life."

The flooding was fed by days of drenching rains from what had been Tropical Storm Lee, and followed a little more than a week the dousing that Hurricane Irene gave the East Coast. In some areas of Pennsylvania, the rainfall totals hit 9 inches or more, on top of what was already a relatively wet summer.

Authorities in Pennsylvania closed countless roads, including some heavily traveled interstates, and evacuation shelters opened to serve the many displaced people.

In Wilkes-Barre, officials said the levees holding back the Susquehanna were under "extreme stress" but holding.

A broken flood gauge had hampered officials' ability to measure the river's height, but the U.S. Geological Survey on Friday estimated that the river had crested at 42.66 feet, well above earlier estimates and higher than the 1972 record of 40.9 feet.

Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority executive director Jim Brozena said the river was dropping Friday but that the flood control system was at its "extreme limits."

The heavy rains also shut down parts of the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County, Va., but some portions have reopened. As much as 10 inches of rain has fallen in some places in the area around Washington since Wednesday.

In Maryland, most of the 1,000 residents of Port Deposit were told to evacuate after the massive Conowingo Dam, upstream on the Susquehanna, opened its spill gates and flooded the town with 4 feet of water. Hundreds more were told to leave their homes in Havre de Grace, where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.
  The river at the dam crested Friday morning below record levels but wasn't expected to recede until into the night. Shelters opened in Perryville and Aberdeen, with river levels projected to be their highest since Agnes.
  President Barack Obama declared states of emergency in Pennsylvania and New York early Friday, clearing the way for federal aid. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell also declared an emergency, authorizing state agencies to help localities cope.
  Evacuees had been told to expect to stay at least until Sunday or Monday, and it will be some time before officials get a handle on the damage that included a partial bridge collapse in northern Pennsylvania, vehicles and other property swept away, and failed sewage treatment plants.

"We're going to have some damage, but you won't know until it's over," said Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton.

People in many small towns and rural areas in central Pennsylvania scrambled to get their families and their belongings out of harm's way as waters sometimes rose with frightening speed.

In West Pittston, unprotected by the levees, several hundred homes were under water - many to the second floor, said former Mayor Bill Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy's own home was among those inundated.

It was the same story downriver in Plymouth Township, where floodwater swamped about 80 businesses and houses.

Farther down the Susquehanna in Bloomsburg, flood waters topped the height reached by Agnes and were expected to crest just short of the record set by a 1904 flood.

Harrisburg evacuated 6,000 to 10,000 residents in low-lying areas, while in Luzerne County, Pa., which includes Wilkes-Barre, the evacuation order covered all communities along the Susquehanna River that were flooded in the historic Hurricane Agnes deluge of 1972.

Late Thursday, Wilkes-Barre city crews scrambled to plug holes in the city's elaborate flood control system with sandbags. The river's dramatic rise began to slow, giving hope that the walls and earthen mounds would hold.

In nearby places unprotected by the levee system, however, emergency officials expected flooding of 800 to 900 structures, with the river likely to crest above some rooftops.

At least 12 deaths have been blamed on Lee and its aftermath: four in Pennsylvania; three in Virginia; one in Maryland; and four others killed when it came ashore on the Gulf Coast last week.

There were also mandatory evacuations in a neighborhood along the Housatonic River in Shelton, Conn., just as residents were mopping up from the mess Hurricane Irene left behind.

"I even have fish swimming in my garage, that's a first," Brian Johnson told the Connecticut Post. "There's minnows swimming in there."

Damage in parts of New Jersey that were inundated by Irene's rainfall was less than feared. About 300 residents waited to return home after Lee's remnants renewed flooding. Three houses were swept off their foundations by a mudslide, but no one was injured.

I-81 North, part of I-88 shut down near Binghamton
Sept. 9, 2011

Binghamton (WSYR-TV) – Interstate 81 North has been shut down north of the Binghamton area, according to the New York State Department of Transportation.

In addition, both I-88 East and I-88 West have been closed in Chenango Valley near Binghamton.

While floodwaters have begun to recede, the Triple Cities area along the Southern Tier region in New York and the Northern Tier region in Pennsylvania remain largely inundated.

The regions were stricken with historic flooding after severe rains overwhelmed the Susquehanna River.

I-81 South remains open. No word has been released on when the DOT anticipates reopening the major highway.

9WSYR.com will have more information as it becomes available.

River levels start falling in flooded Binghamton area
Sept. 9, 2011

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - Authorities in central New York say flood waters that inundated the city of Binghamton and surrounding communities have begun receding, but there's no indication yet when some of the 20,000 evacuees can return to their homes.

Broome County Deputy Emergency Manager Raymond Serowik tells The Associated Press Friday morning that the Susquehanna River is receding slowly and that authorities are just beginning to gain access to some areas to assess the damage from Thursday's record flooding.

Days of rainfall from what had been Tropical Storm Lee inundated a wide portion of New York, Pennsylvania and forced nearly 100,000 people to seek higher ground. At least eleven deaths have been blamed on Lee and its remnants.

Web Report: Johnson City residents: Flooding worse than 2006
Web Report: US Army, FDNY respond to historic flooding
Video: Evacuees share their story

Lee drenches Northeast; 100K told to leave homes
Sept. 9, 2011

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) -- The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee poured water on top of the already soaked Northeast on Thursday, closing hundreds of roads and forcing evacuation orders for more than 100,000 people from the Susquehanna River's worst flooding in nearly 40 years.

Most of the evacuations were ordered in and around Wilkes-Barre, where the levee system is just high enough to hold back the river if it crests at the predicted level. Even if the levees hold, 800 to 900 unprotected homes were in danger. If they fail, thousands of buildings could be lost.

"This is a scary situation," said Stephen Bekanich, Luzerne County's emergency management director. He and other officials were confident the levees would work but sought volunteers to lay sandbags on both sides of the river.

In Hummelstown, another Pennsylvania community along the river, Donna MacLeod had to be rescued from her home.

"I'm heartsick," she said. "I know I lost two cars and everything that was in my basement and everything that was on the first floor. But I have my life and I have my dog, so that's good."

Upriver in Binghamton, N.Y., a city of about 45,000, the Susquehanna coursed into the streets and climbed halfway up lampposts at a downtown plaza. Mayor Matt Ryan said it was the city's worst flooding since the flood walls were built in the 1930s and `40s.

Road closures effectively sealed Binghamton off to outside traffic as emergency responders scrambled to evacuate holdouts who didn't heed warnings to leave. Buses and then boats were used to evacuate residents, and National Guard helicopters were on standby.

"It's going to get worse," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, warning people to leave when they get the order.

Up to nine inches of rain fell in parts of Pennsylvania, and a similar amount fell in Binghamton. Rivers and streams passed or approached flood stage from Maryland to Massachusetts, and experts said more flooding was coming.

The storm compounded the misery for some people still trying to bounce back from Hurricane Irene.

Some of the areas hardest hit by the August storm, such as Vermont, avoided the brunt of the latest bad weather. But in Paterson, N.J., where the Passaic River was rising, about 75 people were still in a shelter because of Irene.

"We just finished cleaning up after the flood from Irene," said Edith Rodriguez, who lived in shelters for three days and spent Wednesday night at a high school outside Schenectady, N.Y., because of Lee. "Now we have to start all over again."

Commuters and other travelers searched for detours as highways and other roads were flooded out, including sections of New York's Interstate 88, which follows the Susquehanna's path. In eastern Pennsylvania, where hundreds of roads were closed, flooding and a rock slide partially closed the Schuylkill Expressway, a major artery into Philadelphia.

Amtrak passenger service on New York's east-west corridor was canceled, as were classes at many colleges and schools across the Northeast.

At least nine deaths have been blamed on Lee: four in central Pennsylvania, one in Maryland and four others killed when it came ashore on the Gulf Coast last week.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett warned of "a public health emergency because sewage treatment plants are underwater and no longer working."

"Flood water is toxic and polluted," he said. "If you don't have to be in it, keep out."

Up to 75,000 residents in and around Wilkes-Barre were ordered to leave. The mayor told residents to pack food, clothing and medicine and plan for a three-day evacuation.

The river was projected to crest overnight at 40.8 feet - essentially the same height as the levee system and nearly the level it reached in 1972, when Hurricane Agnes caused massive flooding in the area. Luzerne County officials ordered all communities flooded by Agnes to evacuate for the remnants of Lee.

Rose Simko packed up her car and headed to higher ground to stay with family. She was worried about her house, just 150 feet from a levee, but knew she had to leave.

"Everything is replaceable," she said, "but my life is not."

Bekanich said several thousand people left their homes, but he did not yet have a complete total. Shelters prepared to handle close to 5,000 people were beginning to fill up, Luzerne County Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla said.

Some 20,000 evacuations were ordered for the Binghamton area, and another 6,000 to 10,000 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital. Crews put sandbags around the governor's mansion, and the first lady moved furnishings from the first floor as the river spilled over its banks.

At the mouth of the Susquehanna, hundreds of residents of Havre de Grace, Md., also were ordered to leave.

In Port Deposit, Md., about 600 people were urged to evacuate as a dam's flood gates were opened to cope with the heavy rain. By 4 p.m. the town appeared to be nearly empty, but Roger Kerr, grilling some steaks outside his apartment building, said he planned to ride out the flood.

`'I've got stuff to watch. I'm on the second floor, 12 feet high. It isn't going to get that high," Kerr said.

It is somewhat unusual to have this many evacuation orders for an American flood, though hurricanes such as Irene can force millions from their homes.

Similar-sized evacuations were ordered in the Northeast for floods in 1996 and 2006 and during the remnants of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. About 11,000 people were evacuated from flood-threatened neighborhoods in Minot, N.D., in July.

Forecasters warned that the dispiriting summer soaking wasn't over and flooding would last four days or more.

"I really feel sorry for people because the sun will be out next week but the water will still be rising in rivers and streams," said Mark Wysocki of the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

On Thursday, 98 different USGS river and stream monitors registered flood levels in the Northeast. And there are 26 areas that are considered in major flooding. That's on top of more than 100 locales that set record flood stages from Hurricane Irene.

Tom Graziano, chief of the Hydrologic Services Division at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said many streams in the Northeast were showing the highest flows ever recorded for the date.

Irene "really primed the pump" in terms of saturating the ground, Graziano said, "and now we're adding this tremendous amount of rainfall."

Though the storm was a remnant of Lee, Wysocki also blamed Hurricane Katia, far out in the Atlantic, for the lingering downpour.

He said Katia and a slow-moving high pressure system over Ohio "acted as blockers," producing a narrow corridor for the storm as it came north.

     

Images: Historic flooding sweeps through Broome County | Web report: Keith Kobland reports from flood stricken Johnson City | Web report: Keith Kobland reports on an airboat rescue

10,000 ordered to leave flood-ravaged Binghamton
Sept. 8, 2011

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - The rain-swollen Susquehanna River has begun flowing over retaining walls in downtown Binghamton, where officials say they're trying to evacuate holdouts who didn't heed earlier warnings to leave city neighborhoods threatened by record flooding.

Broome County emergency services manager Brett Chellis tells The Associated Press that water started coming over the walls about 10 a.m. Thursday, less than 12 hours after officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for sections of the city near where the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers converge.

Chellis says people are being evacuated in public transit buses but some are being rescued by boat. Binghamton University was serving as an evacuation center and reported about 1,000 people were there Thursday morning.

Chellis says there are no reports of injuries or deaths.

Officials say the flooding could be more severe than the devastating June 2006 flood that hit the Binghamton area.

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Lee's remnants bring fresh flood worries to East
Sept. 7, 2011

WINDHAM, N.Y. (AP) - Drenched and dispirited, East Coast residents recovering from Hurricane Irene were stuck under the chugging remnants of Tropical Storm Lee on Wednesday, some of them grudgingly preparing to move to higher ground again as rivers rose while others fled flash flooding.

From Maryland to New England, heavy rains swelled waterways, flooded highways and stretched emergency responders already dealing with cleanup from last week's punishing blow from Irene. Sodden ground gave rain nowhere to go but directly into streams, creeks and rivers that rushed a turbid red-brown past rural communities.

"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 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, closing roads and forcing evacuations.

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.

By noon Wednesday, 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.

"It's encouraging," said James Kelley, 51, of Middleburgh. "A lot of people had given up last week, but with all the volunteers and help, it helps people re-energize."

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.

Areas of Broome County, including portions of downtown Binghamton, were being evacuated Wednesday night 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 visit the region on Thursday.

Along the road in Windham were several soggy, cardboard signs from last week's storm that said "Thank you for your help."

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; no deaths were reported Wednesday. 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.

In New York, several residents said even if the call for mandatory evacuation comes, they won't go.

"We stayed here through Irene, we'll stay through this," said Doris Pasternak, 59, owner of the historic Prattsville Hotel and Tavern, where water rose up to 5 feet into the lower floor after Irene. "I have a hatch on the roof. I'm not moving. I'm just too old to pick up and go."

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.

Swift water rescue teams are on call, and residents should be ready to evacuate if rivers rise fast, said Vermont Emergency Management spokesman Mark Bosma.

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. About 3,000 residents along the Solomon Creek in Wilkes-Barre were ordered to evacuate due to quickly rising waters, but the creek crested about 4 feet below flood stage and the order was lifted Wednesday afternoon. Rain from Irene also led to evacuations there last week.

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.

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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.