PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? Relentless rain triggered catastrophic flooding in the East on Thursday, killing at least three people in Pennsylvania and forcing massive evacuations.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee swamped homes and businesses from Maryland to New England, with as much as a foot of rain recorded outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which declared a state of emergency.
Some 65,000 people were evacuated from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania early on Thursday and another 35,000 in surrounding counties were threatened by the rising waters of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, said Stephen Urban, commissioner of Luzerne County.
The river was expected to crest at 40.7 feet later on Thursday evening and levies in Wilkes-Barre are built to withstand waters up to 41 feet, Urban said.
"Our number one priority is protecting lives and getting people out of harm's way," Urban said.
Rivers and creeks already swollen by Hurricane Irene threatened cities and towns throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey and were poised to smash records.
"It's like Irene without the wind," meteorologist Elliot Abrams on Accuweather.com said of the waves of rain predicted to continue through Thursday.
In New York, mandatory evacuations were declared for about 20,000 residents in Binghamton, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. There are also evacuations in other towns of Broome County, near the Pennsylvania border, as well as towns in Schenectady County and Schoharie County.
"The combination of previous record rainfall, current tropical downpours from Lee, urban development and an already fragile watershed will lead to historic flooding in part of the Northeast this week," said Accuweather.com forecaster Evan Myers.
The storm was blamed for at least three deaths in Pennsylvania. One homeowner died last night while he was trying to bail out several feet of water from his basement, and a wall fell in, said Derry Township Police Chief Patrick O'Rourke.
"We took a direct hit," said O'Rourke, noting even police had to abandon their flooded station.
The second death was a 62-year-old woman whose car was swept up in rushing flood waters on Route 333 in Elizabeth township, said state police in Ephrata, in Lancaster County.
Also in Lancaster County, a man died after he was swept away while trying to walk through rushing water 12 to 18 inches deep, said Randy Gockley, the county's emergency management coordinator.
Driving overnight rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, soaked already soggy Philadelphia.
Flooding, mudslides and rock slides closed some of the area's busiest commuter highways, including the Schuylkill Expressway and U.S. Route 1, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
Railways were also shut because of flooding, including four heavily traveled commuter lines run by the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority or SEPTA.
Among the New Jersey roads closed were busy Route 73, parts of Route 29 in Trenton along the banks of the Delaware River.
In New York, Amtrak shut rail service west of Albany and the officials anticipated numerous closures on the New York Thruway.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Lovering in Pittsburgh and Holly McKenna in Albany; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)
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