Eastern U.S. seaboard struggles to recover after bout of severe weather- 3 dead

 

May 28, 2011 – MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Violent weather swept across the Eastern seaboard overnight, dropping heavy rains that flooded towns from New England to Georgia, knocking out power and killing at least three people in the Atlanta area. Intense thunderstorms stalled over central Vermont, pushing rivers over their banks and ripping up streets. About 200 people were forced from their homes. Churning brown water from the rising Winooski River and a tributary flooded into the streets of Vermont’s capital city, Montpelier, sending business owners with inundated basements scurrying to move merchandise to higher ground. “It looked like the river was right there on my porch,” said Darlene Colby, 47, who was woken up by police around 1 a.m. She gathered a bag for belongings for herself and 25-year-old son and spent the rest of the night at a shelter. In eastern Pennsylvania, a tornado that touched down Thursday in Schuylkill County was the second twister to hit the area this week, the National Weather Service said. Another tornado hit Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania. The weather service said the twister had top winds of 90 mph and traveled 200 yards, but no one was injured. A third twister, also an EF-1, hit Crawford County, bringing down trees and wires and damaging about 10 buildings north of Springboro, county emergency officials told the Erie Times-News. –AP Wire