OCR Text |
Show Monday, September 20, 2004 DAILY HEUAID AS Flooding on Delaware, Ohio rivers forces dew evacuations n" Mark ScoKoro THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The storm HERNDON, Pa. that was once Hurricane Ivan was long gone, but its aftereffects pounded parts of the East like a hangover Sunday, as rivers and small streams swollen beyond their banks by earlier torrential rain forced new evacuations in five states. The Delaware River flooded parts of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, forcing thousands to flee, and the Ohio River inundated parts of towns in West Virginia and Ohio. Along the Susquehanna River, watched the current drain past them with a mixture of dread and awe, and Maryland residents were warned a deluge was com- & $ ft e,. A y. n ' - 'i It Penn-sylvania- rr i 5" 1 . , I -' ui liffii kt f i 5 sfir swift-movi- i tix 5j V fill ' ing. Racetrack and Gaming. West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise spent Saturday night with evacuees on the gym floor at Wheeling Park High, one of several Red Cross shelter sites, after a brief tour of the area by road, v "I saw mobile homes uprooted and tossed downstream," he said Sunday. "I saw human lives iuprooted. :: A highway paralleling the West Virginia shore of the river was blocked in several places between Wheeling and Parkers-bur-g, and the Ohio River bridge to New Martinsville was closed, state emergency officials said. Schools in some areas were to be closed Monday because roads were blocked by water v and mudslides. All around West Virginia, flooding and mudslides had blocked more than 200 roads and damaged hundreds of houses, authorities said. "We have had a lot of mudslides, debris on roads, slides we get cleaned up and an hour later the mud slides again," said Larry Rea, emergency services director, for Brooke County, in West Virginia's northern pan-- - I- 1 From her perch on a railroad bed, Pat Long watched the chocolate-colorefloodwaters of the Susquehanna flow her around and through y home in Herndon on Sunday. Long, her two children and six dogs evacuated to a friend's vacant rental home a day earlier after unhooking the electricity, moving the furniture and appliances to the second floor and hoping that they won't be coming back to anything worse than a muddy mess. For an evacuee, she sounded ' -" I,- I I'll .$ 1 h I d two-stor- almost chipper. "I won't move," said Long, 39. "The neighbor lady is almost 90 and this is just her fourth flood." The Susquehanna was nearly 8 feet above flood stage Sunday morning at Bloomsburg, Pa., the National Weather Service said. It had crested in most places by afternoon but was expected to remain about flood stage through Monday. In Harrisburg, the mayor's office reported more than 2,000 residents subject to evacuation, and the deluge closed streets and unmoored pleasure boats from docks. In the Wilkes-Barr- e area, the Susquehanna caused extensive damage but was running so high that offi- - aBi"raB,irr . I S je """- s - -- ,?.' " f - " ' ,hanaTe,vKY " f . it 4 ,,,-- - . .. y Charles P. Saus Associated Lynn Walton fishes ASSOCIATED blocked by high water, and emergency officials said the river was not expected to crest until evening. President Bush declared a disaster area Sunday for many counties in Pennsylvania, where state emergency management officials attributed six deaths to the storm. Three people drowned including a girl and one suffered a heart attack, but details of the other two deaths were not immediately available. In Phillipsburg, N.J., state pc lice helicopters were used to monitor a propane tank and a rials had difficulty making assessments. Hurricane Ivan and its remnants have been blamed for at least 52 deaths in the United States, 16 of them in Florida, and 70 deaths in the Caribbean. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were still without electricity Sunday, most of them in Florida and Alabama. Thousands of New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents fled their homes along the Delaware River on Sunday. Several bridges that cross the Delaware between the two states were house that were floating down the river, authorities said. ; "It was one of the most amazing things I've seen," said Sgt. GeraldLewis. In Trenton, N.J., the State-hous- e and several other nearby state offices and buildings were closed Monday because garages and surrounding roads had been flooded by the surging Delaware. Assembly and Senate meetings were canceled. About 75 people in Trenton stayed at a shelter at an elementary school, including Stekala Nock and her five children. She said they were awakened at 3 am and told by authorities to evacuate their apartment near " . the river. The smaller children were ' napping on cots and the others were playing quietly later in the morning at the school shelter. "They think it's a big steep-over-- f ," Nock said. The Ohio River crested Sunday at Wheeling, W.Va., at about; 9.3 feet above flood stage, after submerging the city's riverfront park and amphitheater. It mostly covered the city'slmidriver Wheeling Island, which holds residential neigh-Dorhdods and Wheeling Island The Iraqi BAGHDAD, Iraq prime minister insisted Sunday that the raging insurgency which has claimed 300 lives in the last week alone and resulted will in a wave of kidnappings not delay January elections, promising the vote will strike a "major blow" against the violent opposition. Meanwhile, a grisly videotape posted on a Web site showed the beheading of three hostages believed to be Iraqi Kurds accused by militants of cooperating with U.S. forces. A separate group also claimed to have cap- tured 18 Iraqi soldiers and threatened to kill them unless a detained aide of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada was freed, according to the Arab news station In another sign of continuing instability 17 months into the U.S.-le- d occupation of Iraq, a suicide car bomb killed three a northern people in Samarra city that U.S. and Iraqi commanders have portrayed as a success story in their attempts to put down the insurgency. Over the past week, about 300 people have been killed in esca- lating violence, including bombings, street fighting and U.S. airstrikes. Last week, UN. Secretary-Kofi Annan warned General there could not be "credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now." But Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is heading to the United Nations for this week's General Assembly session in New York, said his interim gov- ernment was determined "to ' stick to the timetable of the elections," which are due by Jarl 31. "January next, I think' S going to be a major blow to terrorists and insurgents," said Allawi, who spoke with reporters after a meeting with British leader Tony Blair in London. "We are adamant that democracy is going to prevail, is going to win in Iraq." Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, has been insistent about holding elections on time because of pressure from Iraq's Shiite community and its most powerful cleric, Grand AyatoQah Ali who fought for early elections. Reneging on the vote would risk angering the gener- -, ally cooperative Shiite religious 4 establishment.''. V. : Shiftes, who are in the majority in Iraq, are eager to translate ' IRAQ WEEK IN REVIEW j TURKEY-5- In Kirkuk, a car sped across a field toward a crowd applying for jobs with the Iraqi National Guard. It exploded killing at least 20. The bombing was the third this week targeting Iraq's beleaguered security forces. - 0 100n-- i J$m1 iran --iL JOR. rv,IRAQ , SAUDI ARABIA KUWAIT L - Mahdi spokesman for Army militia in Baghdad, told that the militia had nothing to do with the soldiers' abduction. The videos surfaced the day suspected before the Tawhid.and Jihad in hideout Fallujah killing group's 20 people. group, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab Tuesday - Guerrillas bombed a has threatened to behead Baghdad shopping street full of Jack Hensley and Americans recruits and civilians, killing police and Briton Armstrong Eugene at least 47 people. Kenneth Bigley, who were Wednesday - Villagers found seized from their Baghdad three decapitated bodies, house last week. The group, which has claimed SOURCE: Associated Press AP responsibility for a series of bombings and hostage takings, their numbers into political Sarkawt Hassan, security chief . demands the release of Iraqi women from the American conin the Kurdish town of power. But several cities in the Sunni trolled Abu Ghraib and Umm He said the three Muslim heartland north and were members of the peshmer-g- a Qasr prisons. west of Baghdad are out of U.S. militia of the Kurdistan DeAbu Ghraib is the prison and Iraqi government control, where US. soldiers were phomocratic Party. with insurgents holding sway, The videotape, posted Sunday tographed sexually humiliating male prisoners, but the U.S milon a site known for its Islamic particularly in the city of Fallumilitant content, shows three jah. That raises questions on itary says no women are held at whether balloting can be held either facility , though it say s it young men, two of whom hold there and the legitimacy of up identity cards. Seconds later, is holding two female "security elections held without adequate each has his throat slit and his prisoners" elsewhere. . head placed on the back of his More than 135 foreigners Sunni participation. have been kidnapped in Iraq, ., Republican and Democratic body. some for lucrative ransoms, and senators urged the Bush adminThe Ansar Army istration on Sunday to face the a Sunni militant group that said many have been executed At it killed 12 Nepakse hostages in least five other Westerners are reality of the situation in Iraq and change its policies. A major being held hostage here, includAugust and carried out Feb. 1 suicide attacks against Kurdish man, two problem, said leaders of the Sening an female Italian aid workers and ate Foreign Relations Committee political parties that killed 109 on CBS' "Face the Nation, was people claimed responsibility two French reporters. Lebanon's Foreign Ministry incompetence by the adrninistra-- : for the beheadings in a statesaid Sunday that three ment with the video. tkm in reconstructing the counLebanese men and their Iraqi It said the three were KDP try's shattered infrastructure. members snatched as they were driver, were abducted by gun"The fact is a crisp, sharp ' ' transporting military vehicles to men on the Baghdad-Falluja- h analysis of our policies is re- in that abase in Taji, 15 mites north of highway Friday night. The four ; do We didnl quired for a travel agency that Vietnam, and we saw 11 years , .Baghdad. ..Vr ''y.K''"!:. worked ' The has d branch in Baghdad, a Forof casualties mount to the point group said it was targetwhere we finally lost," said Sen. ing Iraqi Kurdish parties be-eign Ministry official said cause they have "sworn alle-- ,v Chuck HageL a Vietnam War Sunday's attack in Samarra, . ' 65 miles north of Baghdad, of veteran who is giance to the crusaders and came less than a week after : President Bush's fought and are still fighting Islam and its people. the . committee in Nebraska.. Amerjcan forces The tape and the statement city, which had been under indecapitated bodies of the ' ; Thtslain could not be independently veri- surgents' control and a virtual Kurdish hostages v Uree were found on a road near the: fied. troops "nogo area for U.S. ' , ." On Wednesday, security since May 30. sv-- , northern dry of Mosul, said ' Iraqi-Americ- r U i t J. Pauline Jelinek THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ..1 on the fear factor, Vice Pr&i--, dent Dick Cheney suggestid in a campaign speech there might be another terrorist attack on the United States if John Kerry were in the White Abdullah. Abu Dhar - ' olathew ra believed to be Iraqis, near Dijiel, north of Baghdad. Thursday U.S. forces launched attacks against allies of terror mastermind Abu Musab hi Fallujah and Ramadi killing 60 insurgents. Friday A suicide car bomber slammed into a line of police cars in Baghdad as American troops rounded up militants. The bomber killed three people and wounding 23 others. Saturday On a road to Baghdad's airport two bombs exploded, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding eight more. Insurgents bombed Baghdad with one of their most intense mortar and rocket barrages killing at least 37. Nearly 60 were killed in a day of nationwide violence. Monday U.S warplanes unleashed airstrikes on a Sunday ' 0 100km Iraq security forces targeted again " SumiayastOhidRJYerwas expected to crest afctf jfieEfcbove flood stage. The river crested at 9 feet above flood stage in the southeastern Ohio dry of Marietta. Streets were underwater near the river and about 200" people had to leave their homes.' ' ?wnriver along the Susquehanna, ari emergency shelter was opened Sunday in flood-pron- e Port Deposit, Md., where some streets already were flooded and about 200 of the town's 700 residents were told to evacuate. The river was expected to rise several feet above fWod stage there during the night, said JohADruneb-ur- g, director of the Maryland Emergency Management 1 Agency. taetY J5usn, Kerry forces said they had discovered all male three beheaded bodies and with tattoos without documents near Dijiel, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, but it was not clear if they were connected to the victjms in the video. aired a separate I f ideo chiming 18 captured Iraqi soldiers would be killed unless aide Hazem detained Was freed in 48 hours. The men in military dress were shown seated at gunpoint in the video from a group calling itself the Brigades of Mohammed bin .a .. Press rom her porch on North Wabash Street on Wheeling Island in Wheeling, W. Va., on Sunday. Alexandra Zavis PRESS Ahtitf Ipeoplfe ;were out of their hortles Sunday eastern Ohio',Jwere Bush isufcd disaster declflf arions for several Suno. The village of Powhatim Pbint was eyaated ccies Iraqi government to stick to timetable despite insurgency 3 hostages beheaded TftE , . v House. President Bush's opponents' are raising their own worst fears, including the potential for more wars during a second Bush term "That's said Joseph Carafano, a 25-year Army veteran and former West Point professor who now is an analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation. The rhetoric continued during the weekend House Speaker Dennis Hastert, l, speaking at a Saturday night fund-raisin DeKalb, I1L, said his opinion is that the terror network could operate better with Kerry in the White House instead of Bush Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, issued a statement Sunday accusing Hastert of using the "politics of fear," which Edwards said is a "clear sign of weakness ... ." With fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq far from over, a Pew Research Center Poll found that 51 percent of voters surveyed said they do worry that Bush, if would lead the country into another war. "The Bush administration is on a crusade to make the world safe for democracy and part of that ... is eliminating countries of said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute think tank in Washington. . , , Both Bush and Democrat Kerry have said they prefer "' diplomacy to deal with Iran and North Korea, which joined Iraq in "an axis of evil," as de-- " scribed by the president. Under Bush, there is "reason for apprehension because of his administration's "actions . and rhetoric" over the past -four years, said Ted Galen ' ' Carpenter of the libertarian ' Cato Institute.' R-I- , . CarbeiJ :er also cited among Bush's Conservative supporters a Weo concern ... and fairly htant attitude that tne;Uflife4 States needs to "do something" about Iran, North Korea, Syria and perhaps other governments. "In some extreme neocon-servativ-e circles," there have also been calls for "coercive measures against Saudi Arabia," Carpenter noted Those who think more wars in a second Bush adrninistra-tio- n are unlikely point out that there are not enough U.S. troops, given that the Pentagon already is struggling to keep up with violence in Afghanistan and Iraq. . Others say the administration has no taste for another war after the unexpected difficulties of Iraq, and the bar has been raised for Congress and the American public as wel They say Americans will not so easily support another war after learning that prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was false. "I really don't think, absent something like an invasion of South Korea (by cwrununist rival North Korea), that we could sustain another one," Carafano said If forced into it by such a provocation, the Pentagon could most certainly do it by mobilizing more National Guard and Reserve troops and calling on allies, Carafano said But that would take the armed forces "to the edge," said Carafano, and would mean years to reconstitute the military in terms of troops readiness and resupprying ' equipment. ' - Others note that while the , Army is stretched extremely thin now, the Air Force and Navy are not. 7 ' "So the talk that you hear ' within the conservative community about perhaps taking strong measures against Iran or Nwth Korea would be feasible if it were confined to air ' strikes," Carpenter said "Those who are concerned ; that a second Bush presidency : might go down that path. . might have some foundation for their concerns." . " ' . .V" y . 3 |