Residents flee flash floods in Pennsylvania

Members of the Columbia/Montour SWAT team and a crew from a Montour water rescue team help evacuate the Jason Simpkins family from their home in Benton. Photo / AP

Heavy rains triggered flash flooding in parts of central and eastern Pennsylvania today, closing down a heavily travelled interstate and sending water into homes in the mountainous coal regions.

State highway and emergency management officials reported numerous closed roads in a wide swath of the state from Williamsport to the Philadelphia suburbs, and some motorists had to be rescued.

Hazel Coles said water rose so quickly at her home in Darby, outside Philadelphia, that she had to evacuate through a window.

She said there was about a metre of water on her street, and some people had to be evacuated by boat. She said the Red Cross was helping displaced residents.

"It's just crazy," she said. "I thank God it wasn't worse."

The National Weather Service in State College said there were numerous reports of 15cm of rain or more in Schuylkill and Columbia counties.

Police in Bloomsburg set off a mandatory evacuation siren for a few hundred people in the west end of town after Fishing Creek came out of its banks and was rising rapidly.

Columbia County emergency official Dave Witchey said a fire hall in Berwick was accepting evacuees, and another shelter may be opened if necessary.

The forecast calls for storms to continue and cause flooding in the south-central, north-central and eastern parts of the state through until Thursday.

- AP