June 28 (Bloomberg) -- A storm system that battered the mid- Atlantic U.S. swept across the Northeast today, causing floods that killed at least 10 people in four states and prompted authorities to urge more than 200,0000 people to flee their homes.

States of emergency were declared for parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as rivers surged out of their banks. While most of the rains had passed, rivers including the Delaware and the Susquehanna are expected to continue rising as storm water pours in from tributaries.

``We pray that we're going to be spared here, but it looks like the danger may be far from over,'' said Justin Fleming, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Officials in Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, ordered the evacuation of as many as 200,000 people from the Wyoming Valley, including Wilkes-Barre, after forecasters said the Susquehanna may crest tonight as much as 15 feet above flood stage.

The rising Delaware shut down the municipal water filtration system in Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, and 1,500 people were ordered evacuated.

High water washed out a four-lane section of Interstate 88 northeast of Binghamton, New York, killing two tractor-trailer drivers when their rigs fell into the 55-foot-wide, 25-foot-deep chasm, state police Lieutenant Robert Galletto said.

Children Drowned

Others killed included three people in western Maryland when they were swept out of the bed of a pickup truck stranded in high water, the Associated Press reported. In southwest Virginia's Alleghany County, rescuers found the body of an 8-year-old girl in a flooded creek, the Roanoke Times said. A 15-year-old boy drowned in Pennsylvania and the boyfriend of the child's mother drowned trying to rescue him, AP said.

Binghamton officials ordered evacuations of at least 4,000 people as the Susquehanna -- 20 feet higher than normal for this time of year -- lapped over flood walls in the city.

In Trenton, police closed state route 29 along the Delaware, forecast to crest tomorrow about eight feet above flood stage.

``The rain has gone; it's now draining off into rivers and creeks,'' said National Weather Service meteorologist Roy Miller in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Rainfall of 6.11 inches (15.5 centimeters) was recorded this morning in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, and a weather service spotter reported 13.3 inches in Nescopeck in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

In parts of Maryland and Virginia, more than 12 inches of rain fell in the past four days, the weather service said. Power outages and flooding closed several government buildings in Washington, including the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Leaking Dam

Montgomery County, Maryland, officials ordered the evacuation of about 2,000 people below a leaking earthen dam at Lake Needwood east of Rockville, said Lieutenant Dorcus Howard Richards, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County's fire and rescue service. The lake rose 25 feet above normal, she said.

In Trenton, officials ordered about 1,500 residents to evacuate the so-called Island and Glen Afton neighborhoods near the Delaware River, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said.

``We really have a very difficult situation on our hands,'' he said in a telephone interview.

State lawmakers in Trenton trying to agree on a budget by a June 30 deadline delayed a key hearing by the Assembly's budget committee because of flooding around the statehouse.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon D. Harrington in New York at sharrington6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 28, 2006 17:36 EDT