No Letup In Waterlogged NE

Drenched By Tammy Last Weekend, NH, NJ Brace For More Rain

(CBS/AP)  Steady rain continued Wednesday in parts of the Northeast that could ill afford it.

Four people were known to be dead and at least three were missing in New Hampshire, where the forecast calls for another five to seven inches of rain over the next few days.

Flash flood advisories were posted in several western counties of New Jersey, where the Raritan River was expected to rise above flood stage. Other rain-swollen rivers and creeks were rising, too.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy traveled up the East Coast and doused parts of New Jersey with more than 8 inches of rain Friday and Saturday. One to three more inches of rain were forecast for Wednesday. "The grounds are nearly saturated at this point," Gary Conte of the National Weather Service told The Record newspaper.

There was a flood watch in northern and eastern Connecticut, too.

One Alstead, N.H. woman was fished out of a stairwell inside half of her broken home, swept 150 feet off its foundation, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella (video). Her daughter said she was told to evacuate, but the warning came too late, and the water was already too high.

"It was bad timing, bad planning, and I don't think anyone really thought that culvert was going to blow," said Donna Winham.

Linda Pelow also was in her Alstead house alone when the floodwaters suddenly surrounded it.

"I grabbed the puppy and went up to the attic," she said. "It was like watching the tsunami come at me, because all of a sudden, here comes the mud."

Pelow said she did not expect to survive Sunday's floodwaters, but her house was left standing.

"I just prayed and prayed. I thought I was gone with it," she said. "I am totally the luckiest person still in Alstead."

Five miles of homes, power lines, roads and bridges in the town are gone, and the Cold River has carved out a new landscape.

A large drainage pipe upstream clogged, then burst, sending a wall of water five feet high crashing down on the town below. There was only one road out, and those who stayed were trapped.

The National Weather Service said more flooding could be on the way if rainfall exceeds the 1 to 2 inches predicted Wednesday into Thursday, and flood watches were announced for several locations.

"More rain could bring us back to square one," Fish and Game Lt. Todd Bogardus said. "We're doing everything we can to prepare (for it)."

The news came as rescue crews and police dogs continued searching rivers and woods for four people missing in New Hampshire after a weekend of heavy downpours that left at least 10 people dead from Maine to Pennsylvania.