Part of N.J. gets U.S. disaster declaration

WALLINGTON, N.J. - Parts of New Jersey were declared a federal disaster area Wednesday, a designation that could not have surprised residents engaged in a massive and costly cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Irene's record-setting path of destruction.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate visited flood-damaged areas in North Jersey late Wednesday afternoon, and President Obama is scheduled to tour hard-hit Paterson on Sunday.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the president signed a disaster declaration that makes federal funding available to people in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, and Somerset Counties. The declaration came against the backdrop of a brewing budget debate in Washington over whether hurricane disaster aid should be offset by federal spending cuts.

Gov. Christie, who visited Lincoln Park in Morris County with Fugate and Napolitano, expressed anger at the standoff and noted that no such debate ensued after a deadly tornado hit Joplin, Mo., this year.

At Christie's news conference, a heckler yelled out: "Love the dog-and-pony show. Fix the rivers and dams."

State climatologist David Robinson said the rainfall that hit during Irene, averaging seven inches statewide, was the worst since the Great Flood of 1903. The flooding statewide was the most extensive on record, he said, though for the Passaic and Raritan Rivers, the floods were the second-worst.

State officials said Wednesday that it was too early to determine the scope of the damage across New Jersey, particularly since not all the floodwaters have receded. Teams were expected to be out in a day or two to perform preliminary damage assessments.

In Paterson, the president will see far more debris and damage than water by Sunday. On Wednesday, many bridges around the city had reopened, and floodwaters were receding back into the Passaic River, though parts of downtown still were flooded. Rescue personnel had helped evacuate more than 700 people since Sunday.

"It's still dangerous because now people are walking around through the water and starting to drive, and they think it's safe," Paterson Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Vander Voort said. "It's still not safe. The current is still very swift."

Elsewhere, the receding rivers offered a mixed blessing for those finally were able to return home.

In Pompton Lakes, Passaic County, at least 10 house foundations had collapsed, and two basement fuel tanks were breached, according to emergency management coordinator Albert Evangelista. A portion of a riverside road was washed away and may cost $500,000 to rebuild, he said.

In Wallington, a heart-shaped, one-square-mile town of about 12,000 residents, large sections remained inundated with floodwaters from the Passaic, which winds around the small hamlet and hits it from several angles.

"Sunday morning, the water was only up to here," said resident Kevin O'Reilly, gesturing to where his front lawn used to meet the sidewalk. "My daughter and I took a walk around the block. We figured everything would be fine. Sunday afternoon, the waves were bouncing off the house, and that's when it blew out the basement windows. It sounded like Niagara Falls. It just filled up immediately."

Amtrak resumed Northeast Corridor service Wednesday through Trenton, where the tracks had been overrun by floodwaters. State transportation officials said crews were able to patch and reopen a lane of northbound I-287 in Morris County, where floodwaters had undermined the pavement.

NJ Transit resumed most of its commuter rail service Tuesday. Service was restored on the Northeast Corridor line from Trenton to New York's Penn Station for the Wednesday morning commute, with delays because of signal problems caused by flooding in Trenton. Full service was resuming Wednesday afternoon on the Montclair-Boonton Line after a suspension on a portion of the line because of flooding.

Closures on Route 46, which parallels I-80 through much of the flood area, left traffic at a standstill in some places and created lengthy delays on I-80. Some of the congestion was eased by Wednesday morning's commute with the reopening of northbound I-287.

More than 150,000 homes and businesses in the state remained without electricity Wednesday afternoon, with utilities predicting restoration by the weekend or early next week.