Pa. National Guard Rescues Hundreds From NE Pennsylvania Flooding
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (CBS) -- Thousands of people have been evacuated in Wilkes Barre as officials keep a worried eye on the Susquehanna River. Folks there haven't seen flooding like this since Hurricane Agnes in 1972.
Meanwhile, one official with the Pennsylvania National Guard says their members are doing whatever is needed.
"We've mobilized about 1,200 soldiers so far," says Sgt. Matthew Jones. "About 400 of those are in Wilkes-Barre. Their missions really run the gamut here: they are distributing water, food, they are rescuing people. So far they have had to rescue over 150 civilians."
And Jones says they haven't seen the worst yet: the Susquehanna was forecast to crest around 8pm Friday night.
In addition, 13 members of the Montgomery and Chester County incident support team were deployed to Wilkes-Barre to help citizens, according to Montgomery County director of public safety Tom Sullivan.
"We still have six people helping out in their emergency operations center," Sullivan told KYW Newsradio today. "They are doing what is called 'incident action planning' -- where they go, how they are going to be taken care of, fed, clothed, and how they are going to return to homes that are damaged or destroyed."
Reported by Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio 1060
