Worcester, Mass. – Severe flooding swept away cars, uprooted trees and forced evacuations as the Northeast endured another day of driving rain Saturday.
The death toll rose to 11 when a 75-year-old Connecticut man was swept away by rushing water at a campground.
Four people in New Hampshire also have been missing for a week.
But in some places, there was good news: the sun was shining.
Forecasters expected strong winds overnight but said the worst of the heavy rain appeared to be over. Parts of the Northeast have endured more than a foot of rain since Oct. 7.
“We need the sun and the breeze to dry it up a bit, to start raising the spirits of the residents,” said Harry Conover, director of emergency management in New Jersey’s Monmouth County. “These people have been going through this all week, and they haven’t seen the sun in a long time.”
Flooding kept roads and highways shut down Saturday, halted train service and prompted Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to declare a state of emergency, following the lead of New Jersey and New Hampshire.
In Massachusetts alone, the flooding was estimated to have caused more than $6.5 million in damage, Romney said.
Though the worst rain was over, the region was not out of danger.
Flood warnings were in effect in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire as rivers swelled and officials worried that dams might burst.
“We probably got three months of rain in this past week,” said Kerry Flaherty, director of emergency management in Connecticut.
Amtrak canceled service in parts of the Northeast corridor because of high water on the tracks, and flooded highways snarled traffic from Connecticut to New Hampshire.
“Our whole first floor is gone,” said Kay O’Malley of Spring Lake, N.J., where the sun finally peeked through the clouds.
O’Malley and her 11-year-old daughter, Meghan, took a canoe to their house to try to salvage some of their belongings.
