Rhode Island, battered by economy and now water, watches with rest of East as rivers rise

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A battered Rhode Island watches as the water rises

CRANSTON, R.I. — A record-shattering rainstorm hammered the Northeast on Tuesday, delivering widespread flooding for the second time this month and unleashing particular havoc in Rhode Island, a tiny coastal state already beleaguered by a sagging economy and backbreaking unemployment rate.

The storm soaked all corners of what is known as the Ocean State, pushing rivers over their banks, closing roads and schools, and requiring hundreds of people to evacuate, including by boat. The rain finally tapered off by Tuesday afternoon but resumed in Providence by evening, with officials bracing for what is expected to be the most severe flooding to hit the state in more than 100 years.

As flood waters began to sweep through first floors in some areas, rivers from Maine down to the New York area weren’t even expected to crest until Wednesday or Thursday.

“None of us alive have seen the flooding that we are experiencing now or going to experience,” Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said Tuesday night. “This is unprecedented in our state’s history.”

The rain came as residents were still recovering from a storm two weeks ago that dumped as much as 10 inches on the region and led President Barack Obama to declare a major disaster in all but one Rhode Island county. Business owners in the flood zone are still grappling with the impact of lost income.

“It’s definitely devastating,” said liquor store owner Maria Medeiros, whose family-owned business in Providence now abuts raging rapids of water and streets barricaded by the police. “Situations like this, what can you do?”

Across the street, workers in a Blockbuster video store scrambled to raise DVDs to top shelves to avoid any damage.

Carcieri last week cited what he called the state’s “fragile economic climate” and an estimated $220 million state budget deficit when he asked Obama to declare a federal disaster. The state’s unemployment rate has hovered for months around 13 percent and has long been among the highest in the nation.

“Rhode Island’s state and local governments have scant financial resources to support a robust recovery effort,” Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse wrote in asking Obama to extend the disaster to all of Rhode Island and also to make a federal emergency declaration.

Obama issued an emergency declaration late Tuesday for the state, ordering federal aid for disaster relief and authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts.

Even fishermen were hit: Shellfish beds in Rhode Island and Massachusetts were closed because of sewage overflows and failures at wastewater treatment facilities caused by flooding.

National Guard troops were activated in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Scattered home evacuations were reported in those states, as well, and residents in flood-prone areas of New Hampshire were put on alert that they may have to leave. No deaths were reported in those states as of Tuesday evening.

Records fell across the region.

The nearly 14 inches of rain that fell this month in Boston broke the previous March record of 11, according to the National Weather Service. New Jersey and parts of New York City also set March records. And by Tuesday afternoon, Providence had recorded more than 15 inches of rain in March, becoming the rainiest of any month on record.

In one water-weary neighborhood along the Pawtuxet River in Cranston, basements were flooded by early Tuesday morning as water levels approached waist-deep levels toward the end of the street. One resident hung a sign: “FEMA + State + City of Cranston. Buy our houses.”

“Right now it’s bad and getting worse,” said Brian Dupont, a real estate broker who owns two homes on the street. He feared the dozens of sandbags protecting the homes would offer minimal protection.

“We’ve got a saying, ‘It’s like trying to shovel against the tide.’ It’s terrible, terrible,” said Dupont, who was afraid the home might now be unsellable.

Standing water pooled on or rushed across roads in the region, making driving treacherous and forcing closures.

Interstate 95, a major East Coast thoroughfare, was closed for about a quarter-mile in Warwick, R.I., because of flooding and down to one lane in other areas of Rhode Island. In Maine, a dam in Porter let loose Tuesday morning, sending a torrent of water down country roads. No evacuations or injuries were reported.

North of New York City, a man in his 70s drove past a barricade onto a flooded section of the Bronx River Parkway and had to be rescued from the roof of his truck, Westchester County police said. On Long Island, rain coupled with tides inundated a 20-mile stretch of oceanfront road in Southampton.

In Connecticut, heavy rains caused the earth under a Middletown apartment complex parking lot to give way, leaving two buildings teetering over the ravine of a river. Residents have been evacuated to an emergency shelter at a local high school.

Weather-related delays averaged three hours at Newark Liberty International Airport and two hours at New York’s La Guardia Airport, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In New York City, a mudslide caused some interruptions on a commuter rail line in the Bronx.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg in Wayland, Mass., Stephen Singer and Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Conn., Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine, and Samantha Henry in Newark, N.J.