Northeast Floods Ebb; Bridge Search Is Delayed

Most rivers in the flood-ravaged Northeast were receding Tuesday, but rising waters in New York state hampered the search for the bodies of motorists who plunged off a highway bridge that collapsed Sunday.

Officials in Augusta, Me., and nearby Gardiner and Hallowell predicted that damage in that area will exceed $30 million.

Maine Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. said that estimates were still being prepared, but the total will be “tens of millions” of dollars.

New Hampshire officials said they could not make estimates until the water subsided. Massachusetts officials said they were still too busy to assess the damage.

David Dilley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that some sections near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire-Vermont border had received as much as 13 inches of rain in the past week. Average April rainfall for the region is 3.8 inches.

In New York, three bodies have been recovered downstream from the Interstate 90 bridge that collapsed Sunday into swollen Schoharie Creek northwest of Albany. One truck and at least three cars are known to have slid into the swift current.

Police divers dragged the creek Tuesday for wreckage and searched for more bodies before the current in the creek halted the operation. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were also at the scene, spokesman Michael Benson said.

The collapse of the heavily traveled bridge has caused traffic problems as cars and commercial trucks have had to be detoured over small country roads.

Much of the traffic was being directed over the nearby Fonda-Fultonville Bridge over the Mohawk River, but on Tuesday afternoon, state transportation officials closed that bridge, saying they were not sure the 62-year-old span could take the additional load.

The Kennebec River in Maine was expected to reach flood stage a second time at Skowhegan, from continued rain and snow melt, and the Androscoggin was expected to crest again at Auburn, the National Weather Service said. Parts of the Saco River remained above flood stage, although some evacuated residents had returned to their homes.

In New Jersey, the Passaic River was receding at the rate of about one inch an hour Tuesday, after it crest at about midnight, Passaic County Emergency Coordinator Jim Iandoli said.