Cleanup begins in soggy Northeast as Henri plods back to sea

this was up to here yesterday. They're taking out the refrigerator, They picked up the fluids. A nightmare. This is a total nightmare. What happened was about 20 after five. We um my little dog, she was crying. I bent down to pick her up and she was saturated by a little about 20 after six. We had water over our kneecaps. It was awful. I woke up in the morning and the water was up to my ankles and through the whole house. And as time went on it got up to my knees, so I didn't know what to do. I panicked. We saw the boats outside. The boat came and got me my dog, my cat, and uh put a vest on me. The water was so high, it had to be a boat. They couldn't get to me. Otherwise I can't open some of the bottom drawers from the I guess the wood expanded and that's it. And it smells now. And I don't know why should open the windows more. That's the waterline. Yeah, look at that. It's a it's just a devastating situation for people. I mean, and you don't get any helpful insurance company because they told us they don't cover it. If it come if water comes from the outside. Well, what do you cover? I want to know? See I have my amazing employees in here cleaning up. Oh, my brother came racing over here. Had the park about half a mile away. He got to the building. Had to wade through the water kind of like half swam here. And then when he got here, our freezers have been lifted up inside, throwing, throwing on its back. One freezer was lifted and on it upside down against the back door so he couldn't even get in. He just started sending pictures to us. And then I raised over here, my dad raised over here, my older brother came and we kind of looked at all the damage and said, well this isn't good, so we might as well start cleaning up the other side. Yeah.

Residents across the waterlogged Northeast began clearing mud and tearing out sodden carpets Monday after deluges dropped by Tropical Storm Henri, whose remnants threatened further flooding in New England as the system made a slow trek back to the sea.The smell of sewage filled the air as residents of Rossmoor, a retirement community in central New Jersey's Monroe Township, returned to soaked homes and ruined possessions after Henri turned their streets into rivers.Roseann and John Kiernan said they'd have to likely toss their appliances, tear up walls and carpets and replace their car after their house filled with nearly 2 feet of water on Sunday. "This is what we were left with. Nothing, nothing," lamented Roseann Kiernan. "They told us that everything has to go."A few miles away from Monroe, the whirring of portable pumps split the air on the main street in Jamesburg, another hard-hit New Jersey community.Luke Becker, who operates the Four Boys ice cream stand along with his three brothers — one of six the family owns — said nearly 4 feet of water rushed into the shop, dislodging a tall cooler and leaving 3 inches of mud behind."We were initially hoping to be back open by Labor Day, but now it looks like we've got to go through all the plumbing and rip out a ton of electrical because we don't know how much of that was affected," he said. "Right now there's really no timetable."New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy toured the storm-ravaged towns Monday, which remained under a flood warning until midnight.Henri spared coastal areas of New York and New England major damage when its center made landfall Sunday in Rhode Island. But its size and slow speed led to deluges in areas from Maine to Pennsylvania.On Monday, Henri's remnants, now considered a post-tropical cyclone, were moving eastward over New England at a leisurely 9 mph but were expected to accelerate later, prompting flood watches or warnings across swaths of the Northeast. In the Catskills region of New York, Hunter Town Supervisor Daryl Legg believed his mountain community, which was devastated by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, would be able to weather the slow-moving storm."I think we escaped any kind of danger so far only because of the length of time it took for the storm to move through," he said. "This has been a 24-hour period, so it's not really the same storm, thank goodness."But downpours, flooding and even tornadoes were still possible in New England, where officials fretted that just a few more inches would be a back-breaker following a summer of record rainfall. "The ground is so saturated with water that every inch of rain creates immediate floods and flash floods," Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday after seeing damage in the community of Canterbury, where nearly every home lost power Sunday amid heavy winds.No deaths have been attributed to Henri, but thousands remained without power across the region as crews scrambled to remove toppled trees and power lines through Monday. President Joe Biden has declared disasters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut, opening the purse strings for federal recovery aid to those states.Annette Landry, a resident of Manchester, Connecticut, a Hartford suburb some 40 miles inland, hoped Monday's rains wouldn't be a repeat of the deluge that left three units in her condo complex under a few inches of water Sunday.Firefighters said they helped evacuate 18 homes and made several rescues after Henri dumped about 5 inches of rain."It was a tragedy that this happened, because the people who live here are people who can ill afford to live anywhere else," said Landry, a 72-year-old retiree whose second-floor home was spared.In central New Jersey, Dolores Hebert was still shaken Monday after being ferried to safety by boat with her dog and cat as 8 inches of rain fell and water surged through the streets in Rossmoor."I was sleeping and when I woke up, it was up to my knees," the 76-year-old said as she stood by a front door bearing 18-inch-high watermarks. "I didn't know what to do. I panicked."___Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, Michael Hill in Albany and Philip Marcelo in Boston contributed to this report.

MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. —

The smell of sewage filled the air as residents of Rossmoor, a retirement community in central New Jersey's Monroe Township, returned to soaked homes and ruined possessions after Henri turned their streets into rivers.

Roseann and John Kiernan said they'd have to likely toss their appliances, tear up walls and carpets and replace their car after their house filled with nearly 2 feet of water on Sunday.

"This is what we were left with. Nothing, nothing," lamented Roseann Kiernan. "They told us that everything has to go."

A few miles away from Monroe, the whirring of portable pumps split the air on the main street in Jamesburg, another hard-hit New Jersey community.

Luke Becker, who operates the Four Boys ice cream stand along with his three brothers — one of six the family owns — said nearly 4 feet of water rushed into the shop, dislodging a tall cooler and leaving 3 inches of mud behind.

"We were initially hoping to be back open by Labor Day, but now it looks like we've got to go through all the plumbing and rip out a ton of electrical because we don't know how much of that was affected," he said. "Right now there's really no timetable."

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy toured the storm-ravaged towns Monday, which remained under a flood warning until midnight.

Henri spared coastal areas of New York and New England major damage when its center made landfall Sunday in Rhode Island. But its size and slow speed led to deluges in areas from Maine to Pennsylvania.

On Monday, Henri's remnants, now considered a post-tropical cyclone, were moving eastward over New England at a leisurely 9 mph but were expected to accelerate later, prompting flood watches or warnings across swaths of the Northeast.

In the Catskills region of New York, Hunter Town Supervisor Daryl Legg believed his mountain community, which was devastated by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, would be able to weather the slow-moving storm.

"I think we escaped any kind of danger so far only because of the length of time it took for the storm to move through," he said. "This has been a 24-hour period, so it's not really the same storm, thank goodness."

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / AP Photo

A worker cleans the outside area of Four Boys Ice Cream store during the passing of Tropical Storm Henri in Jamesburg, N.J., Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.

But downpours, flooding and even tornadoes were still possible in New England, where officials fretted that just a few more inches would be a back-breaker following a summer of record rainfall.

"The ground is so saturated with water that every inch of rain creates immediate floods and flash floods," Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday after seeing damage in the community of Canterbury, where nearly every home lost power Sunday amid heavy winds.

No deaths have been attributed to Henri, but thousands remained without power across the region as crews scrambled to remove toppled trees and power lines through Monday.

President Joe Biden has declared disasters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut, opening the purse strings for federal recovery aid to those states.

Annette Landry, a resident of Manchester, Connecticut, a Hartford suburb some 40 miles inland, hoped Monday's rains wouldn't be a repeat of the deluge that left three units in her condo complex under a few inches of water Sunday.

Firefighters said they helped evacuate 18 homes and made several rescues after Henri dumped about 5 inches of rain.

"It was a tragedy that this happened, because the people who live here are people who can ill afford to live anywhere else," said Landry, a 72-year-old retiree whose second-floor home was spared.

In central New Jersey, Dolores Hebert was still shaken Monday after being ferried to safety by boat with her dog and cat as 8 inches of rain fell and water surged through the streets in Rossmoor.

"I was sleeping and when I woke up, it was up to my knees," the 76-year-old said as she stood by a front door bearing 18-inch-high watermarks. "I didn't know what to do. I panicked."

___

Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, Michael Hill in Albany and Philip Marcelo in Boston contributed to this report.

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