Residents and business owners began taking stock of the damage wrought by the storm -- estimated at $300 million in Bergen County alone, county officials said. For many, the damage was worse than that wrought by Tropical Storm Floyd, which killed six people in New Jersey in September 1999. No damage estimates were available for Passaic County.
But forecasters said it could be days before the rushing Passaic River begins to recede, suggesting that parts of Passaic County and other areas to the north and west will have to weather several more days of flooded streets and water-logged basements.
The river, which straddles Passaic and Bergen counties, was expected to crest at 11.6 feet early today, more than 4 feet above the flood stage. It is expected to stay at that level at least through Thursday, said John Cristantello, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.
Boat crews continued to rescue stranded residents from homes in Wayne, Little Falls, Totowa, West Paterson, Pequannock and Lincoln Park. In all, about 2,600 residents in Bergen and Passaic counties have been evacuated from their homes, many of them reporting to emergency shelters.
"They only get [evacuated] when it's real bad," said Timothy Collins, spokesman for the emergency management office in Wayne. "And that is where we are -- we are at 'real bad.'"
Authorities resumed their search for a Mahwah woman missing since Sunday. State police helicopters hovered over the Ramapo River near Darlington Avenue, where skid marks, shattered glass and a rear-view mirror were found Monday. Relatives of the woman, Mary Patricia Wagner, 44, helped comb the riverbanks. Authorities fear she may have driven off the road into the river.
Traffic remained a nightmare in some spots, with 14 segments of highway across the state either partially or completely closed, officials said. Route 23 remained closed in both directions late Tuesday between Route 80 and the Newark-Pompton Turnpike, and Route 287 was closed in Riverdale. Six Paterson bridges also were closed, contributing to rush-hour gridlock Tuesday night.
Paterson officials evacuated more neighborhoods along the Passaic River after closing schools, public offices and courts. More than 100 Paterson residents, most from the city's north side, have been evacuated, with most going to city shelters, said Lt. Anthony Traina of the Paterson police.
About 2,700 customers in the state were still without power Tuesday night, most of them in Bergen County, where flooding in South Hackensack and River Edge knocked out several power grids, said Jennifer Kramer, a spokeswoman for Public Service Electric and Gas. It could be some time before service is restored, she said.
In total, 8.2 inches of rain fell in Paramus between 2 a.m. Sunday and Tuesday afternoon, more than falls in a typical two-month period in North Jersey, according to an analysis by The Record. More than 7 inches fell in Hawthorne in the same period, while Wayne got more than 6 inches, according to Bob Ziff of the North Jersey Weather Observers.
The water inside Peter Grossman's warehouse on Commerce Way in Hackensack was 2 feet deep. "Remember the movie, 'The Perfect Storm'?" Grossman said. "That's what this was. The moon and the tides and the rain aligned perfectly. It probably won't happen for another 100 or 500 years."
Gene Sullivan, whose landscaping business is nearby, said about a foot of water entered his building. His employees were cleaning up trucks, mulchers and lawnmowers on Tuesday afternoon.
Along the Hackensack River in River Vale, neighbors who had helped each other move belongings to higher floors on Sunday brought coffee and sandwiches for each other on Tuesday afternoon. They swapped cleaning advice and dispensed hugs as needed.
Second-floor tenants in New Milford were allowed to return home, but residents in flooded sections of Lodi and New Milford were still being told to stay away.
In Pompton Lakes, emergency officials were hoping that most residents in flood-ravaged neighborhoods could return to their homes today. Houses that were in as much as 5 feet of water on Monday were surrounded by about 3 feet on Tuesday.
Still, residents said that repairs to the Pompton Lakes Dam -- designed to alleviate flooding in Oakland -- only made the problem worse in Pompton Lakes. They called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Wanaque, Pequannock and Ramapo rivers so they can handle the increased flow from Oakland.
Meanwhile, Oakland resident Jamie Willis stood outside her home on Lenape Lane clutching a clipboard with phone numbers for insurance companies. She wondered why the Pleasureland and Colony communities farther downriver were helped by the $21.6 million dam project while her neighborhood was inundated.
NJ Transit employees were surveying the agency's bus garage in Oradell. The buses were not damaged, but the water touched virtually everything else inside the cavernous building.
"It's pretty clear that we'll be measuring the cost in hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the exact estimate won't be known for several more days," said Dan Stessel, an NJ Transit spokesman.
The water receded overnight. NJ Transit was able to restore service Tuesday morning on the Pascack Valley line, which was canceled on Monday because of the floods, but Teterboro Airport remained closed Tuesday with flooded runways.
Acting Gov. Richard Codey, who declared a state of emergency on Sunday, announced that he would take a helicopter tour of the state today to view the damage.
Storm victims got another two days to file their federal and state taxes, meaning the returns must be postmarked by midnight Thursday, officials said. Taxpayers should mark paper returns "April 16 storm," or use their software's "disaster" feature, the officials said.
A 12-foot oak tree and some quick thinking helped save the lives of five Mahwah boys after their all-terrain vehicle got caught in the current of fast-moving storm water Monday on Glen Gray Road, along the Mahwah-Oakland border near the surging waters of the Ramapo River. The vehicle struck the tree in Steve Panosian's front yard, saving the boys from disaster.
According to Panosian, who saw the drama unfold: "Had they missed that tree, the likelihood of a tragic event would have taken shape Monday afternoon."
Two boys managed to get ashore. Panosian, his wife, and neighbor, Howard Wisse, grabbed a heavy nylon rope, secured it to another tree, and then tossed the lifeline to the three other boys, pulling them to safety.
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