Rain, Rain and More Rain Hits East Coast; Flooding Damages Rise

Residents in several northeastern states spent their weekends cleaning up after flooding forced hundreds of people from their homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, along with closing the New Jersey Statehouse and a number of nearby state office buildings.

Flooding also resulted in the closing of schools and roads in eastern New York state, where two people were reported missing. Where it was colder, the same weekend storm system that drove rivers out of their banks with torrential rain piled as much as 2 feet of snow on southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

New Jersey’s acting Gov. Richard Codey declared a state of emergency. Flood warnings were in effect for parts of northern New Jersey and eastern and central Pennsylvania as some streams were still rising. Claims adjusters were compiling figures on damaged homes and businesses on Monday.

Among the areas worst hit by the flooding were Wayne, in northeastern New Jersey, where many residents were urged to leave their homes in low-lying areas, and around Trenton, along the Delaware River, where approximately 2,100 people might not be able to return home until later this week.

On the west bank of the Delaware River, residents and business owners in Easton, Pa., worked their way through waist-deep water Monday to assess the damage to their property.

Many streams in central and eastern Pennsylvania came out of their banks, but communities along the Delaware were in worst shape. A number of locals reported the damage was worse than what was caused by Hurricane Ivan in September.