parts of the state are underwater tonight after a powerful storm swept through the region on Tuesday dumping between 2 to three Ines of rain Statewide the flooding was so severe water rescues were reported throughout the state in South Jersey record rainfall totals were reported in Atlantic City and milville the storm causing widespread road closures many schools were closed or delayed today flights grounded a resident was spotted canoeing through man which of course has had its share of devastating floods over the years and it wasn't just the rain the storm brought with it dangerous winds up to 72 miles per hour at Island Beach State Park adding to issues with coastal flooding in places like Harvey Cedars and Tom's River at the peak of the storm more than 120,000 people were without power Statewide that number has dropped significantly though throughout the day and even though the rain has ended rivers are continuing to rise and Crest at various flood stages the Delaware in Burlington County clocked the highest at just under 12 feet for many towns especially those along the pic or saddle Rivers it means the worst of the flooding is still to come including Loi where Governor Murphy this evening tored the damage and our senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan surveyed earlier today water spurted from pumps and Francisco Santiago's basement his home sits a few yards from where the saddle Rivers invading Loi overnight rainfall turned the river into a raging torrent it's the fifth time Santiago's house has flooded in six years it sucks it really does they need to they got to do something better than this the water's all the way backed up here you know like the the waste pipes are backed up now so you can't even run your water cuz you know like if you flush a toilet the water start coming out of the toilet you know um it's bad his wife and one-year-old fled to stay with relatives last last night Loi had to evacuate a 100 residents in emergency water rescues folks who will shelter with family until the river subsides says County Executive Jim tadesco so everybody went to bed thinking everything's going to be fine 7 o' this morning it Rose dramatically and that's when everybody got trapped in their homes so that's when all of our Swift waterer rescue teams and everybody had to be put into action very quickly Tesco says folks from carlstad and mooi also needed water rescues as River and tidal floods swept into neighborhoods in loai construction Crews this afternoon struggled to extricate a cargo container swept up and wedged under a bridge where it backed up flood waters even further and that's creating a little bit of a problem for us and it's making the water run faster and it won't let the water Upstream drain Rising Rivers forced police to block roads across the state schools closed people missed work and residents vented their anger over yet another flood impacting their lives destroying homes and hurting business last year we were closed about five or six times because of the flooding so every day that we're closed you know no money coming in Bergen County doesn't do anything they don't help at all and this is not the first time that it's happening they're supposed to fix this and it it didn't work obviously Tom coo owns a block of 27 apartments and Loi he's furious at yet another flood all the politicians they said can't do anything for you you're on your own okay so you know for me we got flood insurance but these tenants down here shouldn't have to go through this year after year the saddle river floods not slated to Crest until sometime tomorrow along with other river systems that are still being fed by runoff following this latest storm those areas were already primed from the uh two December storms not to mention the storm that we just had a few days ago so that the ground was already very saturated so any additional water just quickly became runoff the storm drenched New Jersey with rainfall topping three possibly four inches in some areas the Raritan and pic Rivers continue to rise Patterson had to rescue a dozen folks we also had to close 30 streets within two hours that's due to the flash flooding that occurred as a result of the rain and what we're doing now is we are closely monitoring the Pake River Patterson mayor Andre SE says the City needs funds to build flood controls as a warming climate Cooks up stronger and more frequent storms Jersey towns could create storm water utilities and charge fees to pay for infrastructure upgrades but we don't have any in New Jersey yet but they are very popular across the country states like Alabama and Florida Ohio Pennsylvania and they're working and the only answer is to establish the mechanisms locally to manage water where it falls so that everything that's sheeting off you know warehouse and Costco parking lots isn't ending up in our backyards meanwhile back in loai Santiago has filled in doors and windows with foam he's keeping the pumps running but he's very tired it's emotional it's tough like once that water reaches this all these all these houses they're done in Loi I'm Brenda Flanagan Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight NJ Spotlight News [Music]