BINGHAMTON (AP) -- Waters that inundated the city of Binghamton and surrounding communities began receding Friday, a day after record-breaking flooding chased about 20,000 people from their homes along the rain-swollen Susquehanna River, authorities said.

Broome County Deputy Emergency Manager Raymond Serowik told The Associated Press on Friday morning that the river was receding slowly and that authorities were just beginning to gain access to some areas to assess the damage from Thursday's flooding. There was no indication when some of the evacuees, including about 10,000 city residents, would be able to go back home, he said.

"It's going to vary tremendously from place to place," Serowik said.

Homes and other buildings in Binghamton will have to be inspected first to determine whether they're safe for occupancy, he said.

About 2,500 evacuees remained in shelters set up around the county, on the Pennsylvania border 115 miles southwest of Albany.

There were no reports of fatalities from the flooding that sent the Susquehanna flowing over retaining walls in downtown Binghamton on Thursday morning, as well as in the riverside communities of Johnson City, Endicott and Conklin. The Chenango River, which flows into the Susquehanna at Binghamton, also flooded but didn't cause as much damage, Serowik said.

"The Susquehanna is really the culprit here," he said.

The river crested at 25.7 feet at 8 p.m. Thursday, more than 11 feet above flood stage but below the 26 feet predicted earlier in the day, according to National Weather Service data. By 9 a.m., it was expected to be at 23.3 feet and still falling.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo planned to head back to the Binghamton area later Friday morning. He was scheduled to meet state lawmakers at the airport in Johnson City to announce help for the flood-ravaged Southern Tier.

Cuomo took an aerial tour of the flood zone Thursday, when he asked President Barack Obama to declare another major disaster for upstate New York flooding, this time including the Southern Tier counties of Broome, Chenango, Chemung and Tioga.

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