Jun 28, 2006 7:42 pm US/Eastern
Trenton Residents Head For Higher Ground
Nearly 1,000 Leave As Delaware River Overflows
by Christine Sloan
TRENTON (CBS) ―
As the Delaware River began pushing over its peak, close to a thousand residents in Trenton packed their bags and headed to higher ground.
"We got clothes for a week," Carol Sanderson said. "They told us to clear your refrigerator so we did try to get our food out of our freezer so we won't lose that, and got a few things out of the refrigerator."
The Sandersons live in the island section of Trenton, where mandatory evacuations went into effect Wednesday morning because officials feared that by the next day the neighborhood could literally become an island.
"We're standing in a spot where some time in the next 24 to 36 hours from now we anticipate will be under water," Gov. Jon Corzine said.
Corzine declared a limited state of emergency in four New Jersey counties -- Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon and Mercer -- after the Delaware River overflowed its banks, flooding dozens of towns.
The declaration gives the state powers to deal with circumstances that are probable and not certain.
Police spread word of the evacuation door-to-door, said Ken Ashworth, a spokesman for Palmer. A shelter was being set up at a nearby school.
Shelters have been set up in Warren and Mercer counties. Most Residents have been evacuated from Trenton's Island and Glen Afton neighborhoods.
Officials expect the flooding to be three to four feet higher than when the river crested two to three feet above flood stage last year.
Earlier Wednesday morning, police closed off two low-lying areas of Trenton, and Mayor Douglas H. Palmer ordered residents to evacuate.
Jersey residents walked along the usually-busy Route 29, as water continued to overflow onto the road.
A lot of debris has fallen into the Delaware River, which led the mayor of Trenton to declare mandatory water conservation.
The National Weather Service said the Delaware in Trenton was nearly two feet above its flood stage of 20 feet Wednesday. And it's expected to crest at more than 27 feet Thursday night and nearly 28 feet by early Friday as surging tributaries in eastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York feed into it.
New Jersey's most extensive flooding in recent years occurred in September 1999 when remnants of Hurricane Floyd lashed the state with torrential rains and high winds, causing $250 million in damage. The towns of Bound Brook and Manville were inundated by floodwaters from the Raritan River.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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