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Horrific Flooding Hits Eastern U.S.

At least nine are dead and hundreds of thousands displaced as the northeast is hit by its worst flooding in years. In northeast Pennsylvania alone, as many as 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a result of rising waters on the Susquehanna River. A state of emergency was declared across many parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The flooding comes after days of torrential rains have battered the east coast.

New York Governor George Pataki said it was the worst flooding he had seen in his 12 years on the job. He subsequently ordered the National Guard to assist with evacuation efforts. The largest of these took place in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where rising waters were expected to crest a few feet from the top of the 41 foot protecting the town from the rising waters of the Susquehanna. Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid called the evacuation of 200,000 residents, "honestly precautionary".

Emergency helicopters, divers and boats evacuated those left stranded. A group of children at a tennis camp in Philadelphia were escorted out by raft as flooding closed many roads in and around the city. The National Weather Service has reported nine deaths throughout the eastern U.S. Two truckers were killed on Interstate 88 in Sidney, New York, after a section of the highway was washed off by flood waters.