Relentless rain floods roads in Northeast, leads to evacuations, rescues
NEW YORK (AP) - Heavy rain washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast on Monday as more downpours were forecast throughout the day. One person in New York drowned as she was trying to leave her home.
The slow-moving storm reached New England in the morning after hitting parts of New York and Connecticut. Heavy downpours with possible flash flooding were forecast in parts of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Orange County Exec. Steve Neuhaus on flooding
As towns in the Hudson Valley start the massive cleanup after Sunday's devastating rainfall and flooding, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus spoke with FOX 5 NY about the 'tens of millions' of dollars worth of damage from the floods and recovery efforts.
One of the worst hit places was New York's Hudson Valley, where rescuers found the body of a woman in her 30s whose home was surrounded by water. The force of the flash flooding dislodged boulders, which rammed the woman’s house and damaged part of its wall, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus told The Associated Press. Two other people escaped.
"She was trying to get through (the flooding) with her dog," Neuhaus said, "and she was overwhelmed by tidal-wave type waves."
He said many roads and bridges were washed out. Officials believed everyone was accounted for, but they were trying to reach people to make sure they were OK.
Officials say the storm has already wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said at a news conference Monday that the storm sent "cars swirling in our streets" and dumped a "historic" amount of rain.
"Nine inches of rain in this community," Hochul said during a briefing on a muddy street in Highland Falls.
Hochul announced a state of emergency Sunday for Orange County. That included the town of Cornwall, near the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, where many roads were flooded and closed off.
The storm also interrupted air and rail travel. As of early Monday, there were hundreds of flight cancellations at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports and more than 200 canceled at Boston's Logan Airport in the last 24 hours, according to the Flightaware website. Amtrak temporarily suspended service between Albany and New York. In Vermont, some 25 state roads were closed.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said swift-water rescue teams from North Carolina were in the state, and one from Massachusetts was on its way.
"This is an all-hands-on-deck response," he said at a Monday press conference.
Scott was referring to Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011, when the state got 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours. Irene killed six in the state, washed homes off their foundations and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 500 miles (805 kilometers) of highway.
Scott declared a state of emergency on Sunday. Some campers and people caught in their homes were rescued in central and southern Vermont, said Mark Bosma, spokesperson for the state emergency management office.
By the morning, some towns reported 2 1/2 to 4 inches (6.35 centimeters to 10.16 centimeters) of rain since midnight, and similar totals were expected during the day, said Robert Haynes, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vermont.
"We still look like we’re on track for that potentially significant, locally catastrophic flooding," Haynes said.
"This is one of those unique events that we don’t see very often around here," meteorologist Marlon Verasamy in Burlington said of Monday's storm.
He said the ground was already saturated and rivers were relatively high from recent heavy rains. Parts of southern Vermont had mudslides and road flooding from a storm Friday night into Saturday morning.
Several communities in western Massachusetts have reported flooded and washed out roads, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said Monday.
The fire departments in Adams, North Adams and Clarksburg in the northwestern part of the state close to the New York and Vermont borders are also assisting homeowners with in pumping out basements, spokesperson Sara Porter said.
A portion of Route 57 in Tolland was also flooded, she said. In Williamsburg, firefighters were trying to rescue someone who had become trapped in their home by floodwaters, emergency manager Denise Banister said.
BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and HALLIE GOLDEN, with the Associated Press, helped contribute to this report.