At least 4 residents dead as floods devastate Pa.

Mother Nature reared her ugly head yesterday, as Gov. Ed Rendell declared a state of emergency in 46 of the state's 67 counties -- including Philadelphia.

Almost paradoxically, the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers flooded their banks under clear skies, as a sunny Wednesday wasn't enough to head off major flooding caused by torrential rains over the past week.

The damage was worst north of Philadelphia. In Luzerne County, for example, The Associated Press reported that between 150,000 and 200,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes.

At least four deaths in Pennsylvania are blamed on the weather.

In Philadelphia, the 4000 block of Main Street Manayunk was evacuated early yesterday morning and is now under water.

Twenty-eight children in the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis Center and seven instructors were taken by the Philadelphia Fire Department in rafts to a temporary shelter until parents retrieved them.

Thirty-four residents were also told to leave their homes and were being housed in a local school.

Most are dispersing to other facilities, Mayor John Street said at a press conference yesterday overlooking the flooded Main Street.

Departing Councilman Michael Nutter, whose district includes Manayunk, praised city officials and residents for an orderly evacuation.

"I've never seen the city more prepared," he said.

Michael Nucci, director of the city's emergency operations unit, said that cleanup was expected to begin tomorrow evening as the waters slowly begin receding.

Nucci had no estimate on the total cost of the damage the city sustained, but did say that he expected the amount to be under $1 million.

"This is considered a low [to] moderate flood," he said.

Things could have been a lot worse, though, when the Blue Marsh Dam and Reservoir in nearby Bucks County was threatening to overflow into the Schuylkill.

However, Nucci said that members of the Army Corps of Engineers were able to stage a "controlled release" of the water and avoid even worse flooding.

The city's public transportation and major roadways were most affected by the storm.

Kelly and Lincoln drives, which are near Fairmount Park, are still under water and are expected to remain so until tomorrow morning.

Nucci noted that, because that area of the park is very close to the Schuylkill, it's always the first part of the city to flood and the last place where floodwaters recede.

In addition to those roadways, the adjoining Schuylkill Banks on the eastern shore of the river are flooded, as are surrounding businesses and homes.

SEPTA also experienced significant problems.

Water got into a transformer on the Broad Street Line early yesterday, forcing the transit agency to run buses along part of that route.

SEPTA was also forced to run buses along the R6 regional rail line from Ivy Ridge to Conshohocken and told passengers to take the Route 100 trolley to get to Norristown.

Interstate 95 was closed early yesterday as was the Schuylkill Expressway and the roads from Race Street to Spring Garden Street.

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