What was Hurricane Henri was still raining in New England on Monday night, after it had wiped out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
Henri brought enough muscle to beat the northeast with strong winds, and the storm flooded streets and uprooted trees and power lines. On Sunday, more than 100,000 were left in the dark.
“Part of the state was crushed,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. “It was a huge, massive rain event. It’s two-centimeter digits in some cases of rain. Unprecedented.”
In Helmetta, New Jersey, water swept away a house so quickly that a woman said the water rose from the basement roof. Everything from your appliances to clothes and furniture is gone.
“It was like an ocean going down the street,” Sue Savage said. “We left after half an hour. A boat came and got us.”
Spotswood police chief Michael Zarro Jr. detailed significant structural damage to the neighborhood and noted the parts were “completely soaked in water.”
People from other parts of New Jersey, including more than 85 people in Newark, had to be rescued.
Henri broke New York City on Saturday night with torrential rainfall, setting a record for maximum rain in a single hour, with nearly 2 inches. The downpour forced the arrest of the concert back home from Central Park, premiered.
Henri crashed off the coast of Rhode Island when he touched down Sunday afternoon before limping out into the sea. Three tornadoes were recorded outside Boston on Monday afternoon. In Helmetta, the water had dwindled, but the garbage containers were quickly filled with rubble. Of the 73 homes in the neighborhood, more than half suffered major flood damage.