Washington Jan 22 (DPA -NT) - Melting snow and ice, combined with earlier heavy rains, swelled the great rivers of the eastern United States Monday and caused some of the worst flooding in the region in nearly a decade. In the state of Pennsylvania, where about 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, more than three-quarters of its 50 plus counties were declared disaster areas, while in West Virginia 29 counties were in states of emergency. Parts of downtown Pittsburgh was underwater as the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers overflowed their banks. A row of historic townhouses in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were destroyed when flooding hindered firefighters trying to put out a blaze. In Washington, D.C., the Potomac surpassed its floodlevel by nearly two metres, washing out roads, flooding underground parking garages, isolating National Airport and turning many neighbourhoods in the city and suburban communities into mini lakes. At least 35 deaths have been attributed to the flooding, ice, bitter cold, pounding rains and sudden thaw late last week which affected eight states. In New York, five persons were killed when the car in which they were riding was washed off a road and into a reservoir. AA1234/221543 Jan 96 nnnn

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