Flooding, power outages still plague Northeast

PORTLAND, Maine - Utility crews cut their way through downed trees Wednesday to restore service to thousands of customers still without power since the huge weekend storm battered the East Coast.

Communities from New Jersey to Maine were still coping with stream flooding caused by the storm, which dumped more than 8 inches of rain in places, along with coastal flooding brought on by astronomical high tides and heavy surf.

Seventeen deaths were blamed on the weather system.

New Hampshire safety officials made plans Wednesday to breach the 19th century Hayden Mill Pond dam at Hollis to relieve the pressure of high water from the storm and avert a failure. A dozen families living near the six-acre reservoir were evacuated Tuesday evening and National Guard troops closed part of a highway as a precaution.

More than 50,000 businesses and residences remained without power Wednesday in Maine, where Central Maine Power Co. was being helped by repair crews from neighboring New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and as far away as Pennsylvania.

'Huge number of trees' down
Utility officials warned that some people might be without power until the end of the week.

“It’s a huge number of trees that are down, so it’s a big job cutting those away,” said CMP spokesman John Carroll. “Plus there are 250 broken poles. That’s an enormous number of poles.”

Utilities in New Hampshire reported nearly 19,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity Wednesday and said some might not be reconnected until the weekend.

In many areas, road damage and fallen trees blocked repair crews’ access, said New Hampshire Electric Cooperative spokesman Seth Wheeler.

“There are 18 different tree crews we’ve hired ... just clearing trees first before the line crews can get in there and do construction,” Wheeler said.

About 1,700 New Jersey residents were in emergency shelters Wednesday because of flooding, up slightly from the day before, as more rivers crested. Rescue crews went house to house by boat in a flooded section of Fairfield asking if residents of any of about three dozen homes needed to be evacuated, said State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones.

“The numbers are fluctuating, actually going down in some places as folks go home, but rising in others as people who had been holding out just give in and go to a shelter,” Jones said.

Dozens of roads closed
More than 80 New Hampshire roads remained closed by high water or damage, said Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton. Most were expected to be reopened soon, but it could take weeks to repair landslide damage to Route 101 in Wilton, he said.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch had asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to start a preliminary damage assessment in all 10 counties to determine the state’s eligibility for federal disaster relief. “Many New Hampshire communities have been overwhelmed by all the flooding,” he said.

Swollen rivers in Massachusetts were receding but waves still crashed over sea walls and flooded coastal roads early Wednesday, authorities said.

Two families were evacuated at their own request from oceanfront homes in Duxbury, Mass., late Tuesday but were able to return Wednesday morning, fire Capt. Skip Chandler said. Their homes had knee-deep water on the ground floor, he said. “Thank goodness it wasn’t worse,” he said.

Most roads had reopened in the suburbs north of New York City, as homeowners in Westchester County piled water-ruined carpets and furniture in heaps outside.

On Fire Island, the barrier island along the south side of New York’s Long Island, some homes were clinging to narrow beaches atop rickety pilings because the storm’s waves had scoured the sand out from beneath them.

“There’s nothing I can do,” said homeowner Bill Raymond, 55. “You’ve got to keep your fingers crossed.”

Colombia volcano erupts, thousands flee

NEIVA, Colombia - Thousands of people were evacuated after a long-dormant volcano erupted late Tuesday and again early Wednesday, provoking avalanches and floods that swept away houses and bridges.

The Nevado del Huila volcano's eruptions were its first on record since Colombia was colonized by the Spanish 500 years ago.

There are about 10,000 people living in the area around the volcano, and about 3,500 had been evacuated, Luz Amanda Pulido, director of the national disaster office, told The Associated Press after flying over the volcano in southwest Colombia.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries.

The eruption sent an avalanche of rocks down the volcano's sides and into the Paez and Simbola rivers, causing them to flood.

"The bridges were swept away, the highway used by the indigenous in the zone was destroyed for various kilometers (miles) and the problem we have now is the lack of a route to deliver goods and medicines to the population," Police Gen. Orlando Paez said.

Experts were not ruling out more eruptions.

"The seismic activity remains light but permanent, and we can't rule out another bigger event in the next hours or days," said Mario Ballesteros, director of the government's Institute for Geology and Mining.

The Nevado del Huila, which is topped with a crown of ice, is Colombia's third-highest peak at 18,484 feet. Located 170 miles southwest of Bogota, it became active again in March with a series of internal rumblings.

In 1985, the town of Armero was wiped from the map and 25,000 people were killed when another volcano, the Nevado del Ruiz, exploded and set off a series of mudslides. It was Colombia's worst natural disaster.