At least 40 displaced by flooding in Reading, Red Cross says
READING, Pa. (CBS) -- The Red Cross is assisting at least 40 people who were displaced by flooding in Reading caused by severe storms moving through the Philadelphia region Sunday.
Thousands are without power in Berks County Sunday night, according to First Energy.
The Red Cross said 40 people, five pets and 24 apartment units were affected by the flooding. A shelter is set up at the Glenside Elementary School at 500 Lackawanna St., Reading, PA 19601.
Red Cross Disaster Action Team volunteers are onsite to provide food, relief, supplies and comfort for those in need.
The water made Exeter Road near Howard Avenue look like a river, and all people in the neighborhood could do was watch as numerous roads were shut down.
"The basement is flooded, my neighbor's is flooded, the first floor is flooded, the neighbor next to them is flooded," Terry Long, of Berks County, said. "It just flooded really, really fast from all this rainfall."
Some residents of the Jamestown Village apartments will have to spend the night in a shelter.
"Inside my windows from my backroom, I had to take everything because it was gushing water down like a faucet," Iris Ceda said.
Elsewhere in Berks County, the Antietam Creek spilled over its banks and onto Oley Line Road in Douglassville, just outside of Reading.
The flooding almost reached people's mailboxes. There were multiple reports of water rescues in that area.
But at this point we have not received any reports of anyone being hurt.
Anyone in need of assistance should call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767).
A Flood Watch has also been issued for the entire region, including eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, according to the National Weather Service, until midnight.
It wasn't just Reading that was impacted by the flooding.
The flooding shut down the eastbound lanes of Interstate-76 around 12:30 p.m. between the King of Prussia and Gulph Mills exits. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews came out and cleared debris from the storm drains and got traffic moving along by 2 p.m.
Sunday is a NEXT Weather Alert day as heavy rain moved through the entire Philly area.
