Northeastern US counts cost of flooding

PHILADELPHIA - As the waters receded today, authorities estimated damages could easily top US$100 million ($164.07million) after floods destroyed roads and bridges and drove hundreds of thousands from homes in the United States Northeast.

Art Stephens, deputy chief of staff to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, said at least a quarter of a million people in Pennsylvania alone had left their homes at some point since the floods started on Tuesday. Tens of thousands more were evacuated in parts of New Jersey and New York.

New York Governor George Pataki assessed the damage in his state in the hundreds of millions.

"If you look at all the homes that have been lost, businesses, and of course the infrastructure -- the roads and bridges that have been washed out -- it's got to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Pataki told CNN as he toured devastated areas by helicopter.

The worst hit area in New York was around the city of Binghamton. Resident Mike Rivera said he was able to drive around the city more easily today as several roads had reopened but there was still flooding. He passed a park with three football fields that was completely under water.

"On a road called Riverside Drive there's huge million dollar homes with instant swimming pools in their back yards," he said.

"And we're supposed to get more rain, it's insane."

Deputy Mayor Tarik Abdelazim said the sewage system sustained about US$20m worth of damage.

"This is a devastating setback," he said.

"The long-term implications, they're dire, and we're going to need some assistance to ensure we get this plant back on line."

He said about 100 people from one senior citizens residence were still being housed at a university campus. It was too soon to assess the cost but he said thousands of houses had their basements flooded.

"Ones that have suffered extensive damage, and homes ruined, it's in the hundreds," he added.

In Pennsylvania, state emergency management director James Joseph said officials had started to assess the damage but conditions in some areas were still severe.

For example, the central Pennsylvania city of Bloomsburg was 40 per cent under water yesterday, Joseph said.

In northeastern Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, preliminary estimates indicated 500 to 1000 houses and businesses were damaged; 10 to 15 bridges were either swept away or made unstable; and about 10km of road was washed out.

Todd Vonderheid, one of the county commissioners, estimated the cost of repairing public infrastructure at between US$15 million and US$30 million. About 100 people in Luzerne County have been left homeless and are being cared for by the American Red Cross and local emergency officials, Vonderheid said.

Days of torrential rain caused rivers to flood starting on Tuesday. The floods were blamed for at least 16 deaths, including some weather related traffic accidents.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has said damage around the Delaware River could cost about US$30m.

- REUTERS