10 Dead In East Coast Floods

Heavy Rains Wreak Havoc From North Carolina To New Hampshire

(CBS/AP) 
Flood waters from the Ramapo River caused officials in New Jersey's Bergen County to evacuate about 30 residents Saturday night and early Sunday, Mayor John Szabo said. Rain also knocked out electricity to as many as 6,000 customers across the state. In Vermont, more than 200 people, including residents of a Brattleboro senior citizen home, were evacuated Saturday night.

The National Weather Service reported that more than 5 inches of rain fell in Wilmington, N.C., on Saturday. North Carolina's Brunswick and Pender counties saw between 7 and 10 inches of rain in four days. Allentown, Pa., received 10 inches between Friday and Saturday. Rainfall also totaled 10 inches in parts of Connecticut and 8 inches in parts of Maine.

"They didn't predict this much rain," said Joan Kinney, mayor of Boiling Spring Lakes, N.C., which unofficially measured more than 15 inches. "It took us all by surprise." Rivers and creeks in North Carolina were already high from Hurricane Ophelia last month. The state's Department of Transportation reported 41 roads closed.

Perhaps the worst-hit area, though, is the southwestern area of New Hampshire, near Vermont, which hasn't seen flooding like this weekend's in a quarter of a century, Ray reports.

Some major roads in and around Keene, N.H., were under as much as 4 to 6 feet of water, fire officials said. The city had no electricity and was awash in the sounds of generators and pumps Monday when the governor visited.

"It's nice to see the support and all the help," said Darcey Zecha, whom Lynch met outside her mother's home. About 500 people were evacuated, and about 150 were staying at a shelter in a recreation center Sunday.

In Hinsdale, southwest of Keene, 19-year-old Sean Weeks was awakened by firefighters early Sunday and warned to leave. Shortly afterward, a house across the street collapsed into the raging water, but no one was in it at the time.

"I looked out my window and all I could see - straight down - was water, right up against the building," Weeks said. "I saw all this New Orleans stuff happening and I was thinking, `This can't happen to me,' then bada-bing, bada-boom, it just happened."

In Alstead, north of Keene, several residents were unaccounted-for, and firefighters safely retrieved three people from a home that appeared ready to be washed away.

Capt. Don Martin had to make the trip through the rising and rushing water three times, each time lending his rescue belt to one of the residents. He held onto a rope loop and signaled his fellow firefighters 200 feet away to start pulling.

"I fell into one ditch that had to be at least 4 feet deep," Martin said.