Dangerous flooding continues in Eastern U.S. as wildfires burn out West
Waves of rain are still drenching neighborhoods from the Carolinas to New England, with historic floods in Pennsylvania. Many have had to flee flooded homes and cars by boat.
Parts of the state have had more than a foot of rain since the tropical downpours started over the weekend. Harrisburg, the state capital, has seen its wettest July ever. The surrounding county has been drenched with 78 billion gallons of water -- enough to fill more than 115 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Bridges are washed out, and numerous residents have been evacuated in Hershey and Lancaster counties. Greg Warfel witnessed rescues right near his home.
"They were staging a rescue to rescue the people across the creek," Warfel said. "The creek had rose above the road and they couldn't drive out."
Street signs and structures poke out of flood waters that surround people's homes. Hersheypark closed its doors Wednesday and will do so again Thursday for the third day this week. Knoebel's Amusement Park is also closed after flood waters rushed through.
In Maryland, some of the crest gates on the Conowingo Dam were opened to alleviate water levels following downpours. The heavy rains are bringing damage and frustration. A sinkhole opened up overnight next to Priscilla Stoner's home in Palmyra, Pennsylvania.
"It's very concerning," she said. "We're in a neighborhood where it's just happening and you never know when you're going to wake up and have this in your backyard ... If it collapsed that easily overnight, who knows what it could've done during the day."
On the West Coast, the Ferguson Fire has has burned nearly 40,000 acres since it was sparked by lightning nearly two weeks ago. It's the largest wildfire in the nation -- with a footprint the size of San Francisco -- and on the threshold of Yosemite. Smoke from the fire has shrouded the park's iconic sights in a thick, choking haze.
People come from all over the world come to see Yosemite's majestic El Capitan monolith. Unfortunately, the view is anything but beautiful.
"The first thing we saw was the smoke," Raphael Krings of Belgium told CBS News.
Albert Gonzalez, visiting from Spain, said he's "very disappointed."
Park officials said they had little choice but to close the campsites, hotels and lodges and order everyone out by noon.
"This is a huge economic impact, especially tough being the fact that we are in the middle of the busy summer season," Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman said. "It's just not healthy for people to be here."
Officials also needed to clear the roads for firefighters attempting to contain the blaze and keep it from inching inside the park. But it left behind a quiet, almost ghostly scene.
On a normal summer day, the entrance to Yosemite would be packed with cars waiting to get in. But it's closed now and won't re-open again until Sunday at the earliest.
Heat advisories and warnings stretch from southern Arizona to northern Oregon.
The most dangerous temperatures are inland -- the mercury topped 100 in Fresno, California, every day for nearly three weeks.
Reporting by DeMarco Morgan in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, and Dean Reynolds at Yosemite National Park.