The record-setting rain began falling Sunday night and continued into Monday morning. The storm was especially harsh in the suburbs north of New York City, where flooding led two communities to declare states of emergency. The National Guard was called into the area overnight to help with rescue and evacuation efforts.

Firefighters plucked Kathleen Reale and her twin boys from their window in suburban Mamaroneck using a front-loader. Floodwater reached up to her knees in her garage and basement and her family was evacuated to a shelter.

"I mean everything will be ruined," she said Monday, adding that her furniture was destroyed from the flooding. "Everything will be gone. it's unbelievable."

That shelter was filled to capacity Monday morning with about 300 people sleeping on cots.

More than 5.5 inches of rain fell in the New York region Sunday, shattering a record that had stood for more than 100 years, the National Weather Service said. The previous record for an April 15, measured in Central Park, was 1.8 inches in 1906.

Sunday was the second wettest day on record for Central Park, the National Weather Service said, where 7.5 inches had fallen by midnight Sunday.

In Westchester County, north of New York City, all public school were closed Monday. Cars were stuck in the water on numerous roadways, and several major roads were shut down at times because of flooding. Schools were also reportedly closed in some parts of New Jersey as well Monday.

The storm grounded flights Sunday at the region's three major airports, temporarily shutdown trains between the suburbs to the city, caused power outages to more than 10,000 households, and forced some residents to take to the streets in boats.

Photo: A N.J. commuter train travels over a flooded underpass in Garfield, New Jersey. More than 5.5 inches of rain fell in the New York region Sunday, shattering a record that had stood for more than 100 years. (By Jeff Zelevansky, Reuters)

The storm gave runners in Monday's Boston Marathon something to worry about besides Heartbreak Hill. Monday morning, several inches of wind-driven rain had fallen and the wind was gusting to more than 30 mph.

In Rhode Island, storm-related high winds forced the shutdown of T.F. Green Airport in Warwick early Monday. The winds damaged a construction area near the departure lounge on the second floor, airport spokeswoman Patti Goldstein said.

The governors of West Virginia and New Jersey declared states of emergency. New Jersey's Acting Gov. Richard Codey and Connecticut's Gov. M. Jodi Rell urged residents to stay home from work and off the roads, if possible.

One person was killed by a tornado in South Carolina, and two died in car accidents — one in upstate New York and one in Connecticut. The storm rattled the Gulf states Friday and Saturday with violent thunderstorms, raked Texas with at least two tornadoes and was blamed for five deaths before heading northeast.

Up to 18 inches of heavy, wet snow was expected across the higher elevations of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. On the coast, strong winds and driving rain sent fishing boats to port, and residents prepared for coastal flooding.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer deployed 3,200 members of the National Guard to areas that might be affected by the storm. The Long Island Power Authority said about 7,500 customers lost power across the island Sunday.

In upstate New York, messy conditions from the western Finger Lakes to the Albany area and from the mid-Hudson Valley to the Adirondacks added another day to the Easter break for many schools.

Photo: Joe Bosler brushes snow from his car windshield in Philadelphia on Monday morning. (By Matt Rourke, AP)

Hundreds of people living below an earthen dam near Hamlin, W.Va., were asked to evacuate because of concerns that heavy rain had destabilized the structure.

At least three tornadoes touched down in South Carolina on Sunday. The most destructive cut a 14-mile long, 300-yard-wide swath through Sumter County in the central part of the state, killing a woman who was thrown from her mobile home and seriously injuring four other people.

Airlines canceled more than 500 flights at the New York area's three major airports, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Dozens more were canceled in Philadelphia, Boston and elsewhere in New England.

There were sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph and gusts of up to 48 mph at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Some residents along the Long Island Sound were urged to evacuate and more than 43,000 power outages were reported across Connecticut.

"We came up to see the city," said Amby Lewis, the leader of a girl scout troop from North Carolina who was stranded at LaGuardia airport. "And the lovely weather rolled in and we've been stuck ever since."

In the tony Connecticut town of Greenwich, the American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter and the water rose so fast in the western section of town that responders had to put four boats into the water and bring in bucket trucks to rescue residents.

In New Jersey, flooding was reported along the Ramapo and Saddle rivers in Bergen County, while minor flooding was occurring along the Delaware River.

The storm was expected to be the worst of its kind since the December 1992 nor'easter that caused millions of dollars worth of damage to buildings and forced thousands of evacuations.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2007-04-16-storm_N.htm