Officials today will continue tallying the damage from Friday's record-setting rain and the flooding that followed, but it may take days or even weeks to get a true sense of the cost. The final tally is likely to climb into the tens of millions of dollars, but just how high was impossible to know.

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"It would be irresponsible to even hazard a guess," said David Sanko, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. "By the end of the week, I think we'll be starting to have numbers, but it will be a long road. Our counties are switching from those rescue and recovery efforts to damage assessment."

While cleanup efforts in the western part of the state are well under way, many roads are still closed in some eastern counties and officials have been limited to flyovers in some areas, said Maria A. Smith, PEMA's spokeswoman.

"You have so many counties that needed to be looked at and assessment teams haven't gotten to certain areas yet. Damage assessment is just beginning and it will continue," Smith said. "There are just so many variables."

Thus far, the White House has declared 19 counties a federal disaster area, but additional counties are expected to be added to the federal declaration as assessments are completed.

Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum requested that eight more counties be added to the list: Blair, Bucks, Cameron, Carbon, Greene, Huntingdon, Lehigh and Somerset counties.

Tens of thousands of people have been affected by flooding and as of last night, 100 shelters remained open across the state. By noon yesterday, 500 people had called the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 24-hour toll free number to register for assistance, Sanko said, and FEMA personnel may be out in communities today making sure people know where to call to register.

"Once you make the phone call, you'll see an inspector at your door in a couple of days to say what you'll eligible for," Sanko said.

Providing victims with fresh water and temporary housing will be a priority in the coming days, Sanko said.

Allegheny and Washington counties were hardest hit and major damage has been reported along the Delaware River in Bucks County, Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley and along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg and nearby areas, said Adrian King, the governor's deputy chief of staff for public safety.

Floating drums

As flood waters recede and cleanup continues, state and local environmental officials are concerned about hundreds of potentially dangerous "orphaned" fuel tanks and waste drums that were carried off by storm-swollen streams and now litter residential areas.

Betsy Mallison, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman, said Reichhold Inc., which manufactures resins and toners in Bridgeville, lost more than 200 55-gallon drums of waste when Chartiers Creek inundated its industrial site.

Ranbar Technology Inc., a maker of resins and paint products in Glenshaw, lost an undetermined number of containers to Pine Creek, some of which have been showing up in Etna's creekside back yards.

"If any of these tanks show up on your lawn or in your yard, don't touch or disturb them in any way,'' Mallison said. "Call local officials or the DEP and we will come and help remove them."

In Allegheny County, more than 2,500 homes in 62 municipalities were damaged, county officials said.

One fatality was reported Friday. Dennis Santiago, 35, was swept away by flood waters from Chartiers Creek in Carnegie.

Crafton firefighters recovered a man's body downstream near the Thornburg Bridge last night, but no identification had been made last night.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said it was too early to determine a dollar amount of damage in the county.

Today, he said, officials are scheduled to tour Tarentum, Fawn and other parts of the county.

"I think everyone is still in a cleanup and assessment phase. It may take weeks to get a handle on the damage."

Onorato said grants and low-interest loans will be available to homeowners and businesses in coming weeks.

In the short term, Onorato said, there will be temporary housing for those who need it.

County Emergency Management Director Bob Full said much work remained.

"There are some areas that we have yet to touch," he said. "But we don't want folks to lose hope. We will make sure they get the services they need."

Full said one of the biggest hurdles was correcting water problems in the South Hills.

"The water pressure has been restored and the systems are filling as normal," he said. "We want people to conserve water as much as possible but the systems are filling."

Many sewage treatment facilities were damaged by flooding and several remained closed, according to a list complied by the DEP.

Closed for repairs in Allegheny County were Penn Hills' Plum and Holiday Park treatment plants and the Allison Park treatment plant. Also closed were the Sewickley Creek treatment plant in Beaver County and the Waynesburg treatment plant in Greene County.

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority was bypassing its Verona pumping station, which was under water and lost its electrical system. A bypass pumping system should be in place today to capture most of the sewage flow now going untreated into the Allegheny River.

Pittsburgh Public Works Director Guy Costa said that while the city was spared the brunt of the damage, there was much cleanup to be done in Hays and East Carnegie. In Hays, 80 homes and businesses were damaged and in East Carnegie 50 to 100.

The city also is providing manpower and equipment to suburban municipalities.

About 15 Pittsburgh Public Schools buildings were affected by the storm, but there was no major damage, said Richard Fellers, chief of operations for the district.

Bad connections

In Carnegie, where some of the worst flooding occurred, Verizon officials said 16,000 to 20,000 customers were without telephone service because of water damage to a Verizon building.

Company spokesman Lee Gierczynski said workers hoped to have service restored by the end of the week.

Communities in the lower North Hills that suffered from the flooding of Pine Creek, Little Pine Creek and the Allegheny River yesterday continued to clean up and help residents who lost homes and property.

Shaler has been forced to continue its water conservation order because of problems with power outages at its pumping station, township Manager Tim Rogers said. Millvale, another hard-hit community, also had water problems, which it expected to resolve in the next day or two, Mayor James Burn said.

Extensive flood damage in Millvale forced the Shaler Area School District, which includes Millvale, Reserve and Shaler, to shut down its schools until tomorrow.

Onorato surveyed damage in Sharpsburg yesterday for the first time because most of the borough, located along a strip adjacent to the Allegheny River, was inaccessible until Sunday night. Mayor Donald Ferraro showed Onorato the damage, including Ferraro's South Main Street home, which was severely damaged.

The damage in Sharpsburg was caused by a double whammy of flooding from Pine Creek on Friday and then from the Allegheny River on Saturday. Dozens of businesses and homes were extensively damaged along Main Street from First to 10th streets.

Sharpsburg has been helping Etna, its neighbor to the west, because of extensive damage to the Etna borough building. Etna police dispatchers and the borough secretary are temporarily housed in the Sharpsburg municipal building until they can find a dry place to work.

"They can stay as long as they need to," Ferraro said.

In Washington County, 90 percent of the county had been evaluated as of yesterday and officials were reporting damage to 341 homes and businesses. Of that, 105 structures were destroyed, 96 had major flooding and 261 had minor flooding.

In Houston, two businesses and at least six homes were condemned. Three blocks of houses along McNutt Street lost contents in basements and first floors after Chartiers Creek and its tributaries rose an estimated two feet above the 100-year flood plain.

Shelley's Pike Inn, with its first floor flooded, caught fire and sustained $150,000 in damage, prompting officials to condemn the building. An insurance agency on South Main Street also was destroyed.

Flood waters also ruined borough police, tax and municipal records and three borough vehicles including a dump truck. The only items salvaged were chairs and a table, Councilman David Schmalz said. The Houston Post Office also closed due to flood damage.

In Butler County, Frank Matis, director of emergency services, said 18 homes were destroyed; 126 had major damage; 161 had minor damage; and 179 had some water in the basement.

"It's the worst flooding I've experienced here and I've been here over 24 years," Matis said.

In the city of Butler, workers spent most of yesterday at the streets department garage on Kittanning Street trying to salvage sewer maps, emergency communications radios and such heavy equipment as a front-end loader, a street sweeper and several pickup trucks.

Mayor Leonard Pintell said at least six feet of water from Connoquenessing Creek filled the garage Friday as streets workers were helping other flood victims.

"It has never flooded to this degree," he said. "It's just a mess."

He said he couldn't attach a dollar amount to the damage because it will be several days before anyone knows which pieces of equipment can be dried out and saved. The city, which has been experiencing serious financial woes and is facing a projected $500,000 deficit by 2006, does not have flood insurance, Pintell added.

Businesses impacted

Dan Stevens, spokesman for Westmoreland County Emergency Management, said at least 31 county businesses suffered damage. Of those, 18 had major damage.

Stevens said up to 37 single-family homes sustained major damage and 105 had minor damage.

The flood knocked out the Ligonier Borough sewage treatment plant for a day, said Jack Berger, Ligonier secretary-treasurer. The plant serves 1,240 customers, he said.

In Beaver County, 49 homes had major damage, 358 had minor damage and 48 were affected with minor basement flooding.

At least 18 businesses were damaged, including 12 in the Green Garden Plaza in Hopewell that were completely flooded and expected to lose all their merchandise. Three restaurants along the Beaver riverfront in Bridgewater were completely flooded.

Of particular concern was the Green Garden Road bridge in Hopewell, which carries traffic for Hopewell Area schools. Raccoon Creek rose over the bridge deck, taking out one railing. The bridge reopened yesterday to a single lane of traffic.

Assessment teams from the county and the Red Cross were helping municipal officials total up the damages.

"We're still trying to figure out what the needs are," said Brian Hayden, county communications director. Hayden said the county emergency management staff would work to put an estimated dollar figure on the damage today.

Hayden said there also was heavy damage along Connoquenessing Creek in Marion, Franklin and North Sewickley and along Big Sewickley Creek and other waterways in Economy.

"It was just everywhere," he said.

The widespread losses prompted the Lawrence/Beaver Chapter of the Red Cross to move operations to the Koppel Volunteer Fire Department to be closer to problem areas and then to open a second service center in the Beaver Red Cross offices near the Beaver Medical Center in Brighton.

Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh spent yesterday visiting churches in devastated communities, where he prayed with people who had piled all their worldly possessions in a heap for garbage haulers.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, who made the trip with him, was appalled by the losses but inspired at the way people pulled together and faced their troubles with a sense of humor. The owners of a ruined French pastry shop in Millvale put a sign in the window advertising "mud pies."

At All Saints Church in Etna, the buildings manager told of praying in the flooded church for helpers to begin cleaning.

"When he left the church and crossed the street, he found 50 people, kids and young people, waiting to help," Lengwin said.

In Etna, the parish social hall will be cleaned quickly so Mass can be held there instead of the waterlogged church.

In Carnegie, floods rendered two of the three church buildings and the school unusable for the foreseeable future.

"In one of the churches, the water came over the pews," he said.

Plans are in the works for a collection to help flood victims. In the meantime, Catholic Charities is offering vouchers for food, cleaning supplies and other necessities, Lengwin said.

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Correction/Clarification: (Published Sept. 22, 2004) Adrian King is the governor's deputy chief of staff for public safety. The version of this story in yesterday's editions about flooding in Pennsylvania did not include his first name and title.