wilkes barre flooding

More than 1,200 Pennsylvania National Guard troops are being mobilized to deal with life-threatening flooding along the Susquehanna River, and 400 of them are committed to help with the mandatory evacuations of thousands of residents in Wilkes-Barre, Gov. Tom Corbett and state emergency officials said Thursday night. "We have National Guard troops going in to help Wilkes-Barre," Mr. Corbett said. Meanwhile, the state Health Department is readying a mobile hospital on the west side of the Susquehanna River across from Wilkes-Barre. Elsewhere, state officials have evacuated 266 residents from Wernersville State Hospital in Wernersville, Berks County, due to a flood threat and sent them to other state hospitals, officials said.

Authorities evacuated parts of this riverside city and surrounding towns Thursday as rising floodwaters pushed against protective levees, and Gov. Corbett put the state on an emergency footing not seen since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Thursday morning, inmates from the Luzerne County jail were sandbagging the Pierce Street Bridge. Ritter pointed to the levee. If the river crossed the barrier, he'd have water up to his second floor. Meanwhile, in another city perched on the Susquehanna's banks - Harrisburg - Corbett was declaring a Level One emergency in Pennsylvania. "Flood water is toxic and polluted," he said. In East Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, an 8-year-old boy was playing with some friends on a flooded street around 4 p.m. Thursday when he was swept off his feet and carried to a storm drain, County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said Thursday night. In Wilkes-Barre, Stephen Urban, chairman of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority, said engineers were confident that the 15 miles of levees would hold.















Source :
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/400-guard-soldiers-deployed-to-wilkes-barre-1.1200435
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/129508638.html?viewAll=y