we spent the whole time in west brattleboro, not this part of brattleboro.in their houses earlier brattleboro had gone, knocked on doors you really should evacuate and some people refused and as the water came higher and up there it started to surround people's homes and people -- >> reporter: people were not on the streets observing, they were in the homes when the water came through? >> yeah and it came up so fast and with such a velocity that there were some people that we weren't able to get to in the real height of the flood and then it started to recede a little bit, and we were able to get to those people, and most everyone we got to was either a raft and sometimes we were in it, sometimes we were -- >> reporter: you were in it, you were in some of the houses as furniture started floating through the living room, out of the house and the water started going out? >> it was interesting one house surrounded by water and it receded enough as a group of four of us with a big stick we were able to wade out to it and we brought the people out one at a time a

meanwhile, the news isn't so good tonight in brattleboro, vermont.jeopardy and probably not the only one as flash flooding threatens most of the state. any questions? no. you know... ♪ we're not magicians ♪ we can't read your mind ♪ ♪ read your mind ♪ we need your questions ♪ each and every kind ♪ every kind ♪ will this react with my other medicine? ♪ ♪ hey, what are all these tests even for? ♪ ♪ questions are the answer ♪ yeah ♪ oh >>> union, new jersey, today after hurricane irene passed through town. the video sent in by ireporter michael ramas. irene just won't quit. right now it has weakened to a tropical storm and moving from the u.s. into canada. drenching rains flooded areas across the northeast. and the danger is far from over. at least 18 deaths now blamed on irene so far. floodwaters are rising in many areas. more than four million homes and businesses without power and it could take days to get electricity flowing to everyone again. president obama is warning many americans aren't out of harm's way. he's promising swift federal assistance

brattleboro, known for its arts was covered in mud. alyssa's store was damaged but not her spirit. >> it's disheartening, but it's a wonderful community. and i feel like we're well-loved and everything will be okay. >> reporter: in some places the floodwaters are still rising. ron allen, nbc news, brattleboro, vermont. >> and you have to go back to the late 1800s for when this bridge was first here, a wooden covered bridge. a very iconic symbol, rebuilt in the 1980s and now gone to mother nature's fast moving waters from last night. let's take a look at this hurricane. even though we didn't get to that big stature of category 3 or 4, this thing was a wrecking machine all the way from puerto rico, through the bahamas. here you can see it coming up through the carolinas on saturday morning, and then up through new england. it moved slow enough to produce significant rainfall. look at this area where we had significant flooding. huge areas all across new england. and there you see vermont sitting right there, brian. almost every inch, as

meanwhile, the news isn't so good tonight in brattleboro, vermont.re is a building in jeopardy and probably not the only one as flash flooding threatens most of the state. in here, everyone spes the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. we share. shop from anywhere. and are always connected. we live in a social world. isn't it time we had a social currency to match? membership rewards points from american express. use them to get the things you love from amazon.com, ticketmaster.com, and more unexpected places. they're a social currency with endless possibilities. >>> union, new jersey, today after hurricane irene passed through town. the video sent in by ireporter michael ramas. irene just won't quit. right now it has weakened to a tropical storm and

that is the latest from brattleboro, vermont. >>> and the monday travel nightmare continues. amtrak service is suspended between philadelphia and boston and while the airports in the northeast are open, there are backlogged passengers still trying to get out. in all irene cancelled 13,000 flights since saturday and including nearly 1,500 today. hundreds of passengers spent the weekend in newark liberty airport on cots, and many of them are still stranded. >> cold. i felt like a homeless person and i want to get back to my home in alabamament. >> i'm so tired and i'm english and this is frightening because i'm a lone traveling female and it is a frightening experience. >> and while newark's airport opened for the inbound flights at 6:00 a.m., the flights just started leaving in the last few hours. >>> and now for the cost, could irene by the $45 billion storm? one expert says it is possible when you combine the loss of life and business. bertha coombs is joining us now and we heard the governor from new jersey say that number as well, but this $45 billion dollar is incredible

a lot of action is now happening in brattleboro, vermont. that's where cnn's gary tuchman is. >> reporter: marty, for generations up until yesterday children would swim here. this is the wetstone brook. it was totally placid, a thin creek where children have played for much of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. this is no longer the wet stone brook. this is the wet stone rapids. the power of irene in vermont has turned brooks and creeks into rapids. looks like what you would see at the grand canyon, at niagara falls. this is an office building with art studios and the power of the water exploded the brook three times what it was before. the building is now about to fall into this brook. we talked to one of the owners inside the building, an artist with an office on the top floor, third window from the right. he wanted to recover his belongings. we advised him that would not be a good idea and five minutes ago we heard a boom. part of the building appears to have collapsed. now in vermont, officials are trying to find out how man

we have two reports tonight beginning with wyatt andrews in brattleboro, vermont. >> reporter: as impressive as the damage has been here in vermont, today the response got more impressive. 500 road crews got very quickly to work and emergency teams combed these hillsides in all terrain vehicles looking for residents who had been stranded. >> reporter: in the town of jamaica, catherine hatinguais and suzanna maggi were rescued after the road and two bridges that led to their hillside home washed out. you would have had to walk? >> yes. >> exactly. >> reporter: for all supplies? >> yes. and it was not walkable. the bridges there are gone. >> reporter: there's only one road into jamaica now. the road leading out of town sits at the bottom of the ball mountain creek. the creek rose so violently on sunday it destroyed six houses, including what's left of david kaneshiro's home. the creek moved over and took out your house? >> took out everything, the front porch and the front house. >> reporter: at least 260 roads in vermont now look like something like this: washed out from the side or sliced in

in downtown brattleboro, thousands of homes and business are without power. officials are struggling to determine the true extent of the damage. the governor, who surveyed the wreckage by helicopter, described widespread devastation. >> we've seen so many heartbreaking stories that it's -- we need all the help we can get. >> reporter: the national guard is out with rapid response teams working on rescue and relief, but even the rescuers are in need of help. >> the water level got right here. >> reporter: this firehouse inundated by floodwaters. so the water has receded. but what a mess still remains. as we make our way through what remains of this doorway. we want to show you the typical scene up and down main street. look at what the water did to this boutique. the store front pushed right off the foundation. and then just a disaster zone inside. thenent the corner, you see the famous flood of 1938. this is the water mark from the water yesterday, way above my head. diane. >> the new famous flood of hurricane irene. thank you, linsey. and 100 miles away from

it's taking heavy machinery to clear the muddy streets of brattleboro, vermont, two days after irene swept through and washed out entire neighborhoods, town officials are still trying to assess the damage. >> there's the debris field out there. >> reporter: wyndham county sheriff keith clark says raging floodwaters destroyed so many roads he can't count the number of people stranded or homeless. >> we know that in one town we have people that are on dialysis that can't get out to get their treatments. we're trying to get vehicles to them. >> reporter: it's a similar picture from north carolina to maine. residents are battling historic flooding in some areas. in others the water is mostly gone, but homes are completely destroyed. >> you know, i really honestly didn't think the reality is even begun to sink in yet, it's so overwhelming. where to start or what, you know, what to do. >> reporter: obama administration officials will get to see the devastation firsthand today. they'll travel to north carolina, virginia, and vermont, to survey the damage, and the response effort. >> it's go

he is in brattleboro, and gary, what is the latest from there n now?o would have thought that the green mountain state tonon the canadian border would have been suffering from a tropical system. the flood waters are receding, and it left behind muddy driveways and homes inside of the one-story home, and it is all emanating right here in this town brattlele borrow from what used to be a brook. this was a quiet brook where children were swimming yesterday for generations where children have swam in the wet stone brook, and it is rapids five times as wide because of the explosive power of the waters from the tropical storm. and look at what it has done to this business right here. this is an art studio and 15 artists worked inside of this building when the waters exploded through, it demolished that part of the building. that part of the building could fall into this raging brookt a any time. now, a short time ago we actually went inside of the building to take a look. we went inside, because artists were trying to recover some of the valuable artworks. w

main street is closed here in brattleboro. haven't seen it like this in a long time. >> reporter: with the waters continuing to rise in rivers and creeks in many states, heavy flooding could be a major problem in the days to come. it's amazing how fast that water is moving. that's the breaking fuss right now. waters still rising, vermont facing the worst flooding since 1927. 260 roads affected. numerous bridges including some right off of a picture postcard. one of those covered bridges just getting overcome with water, the water final rell treating in places but still cresting or yet to crest in others. gary tuchman joins us from. gary, what's the situation there? >> anderson, we're in the northern part of vermont near the state's biggest city of burlington, and these are the waters from the wimuski river. but we're nowhere near the wimuski river. the river is behind me about a quarter mile. this is a street and flooding in northern vermont is just starting to crest an hour after the worst tropical storm came through. but the

look at these floodwaters rushing through brattleboro, vermont. the u.s., conditions are still dangerous. more than 4 million people are without electricity now and it could be a week before everyone gets power back on. estimates from the wind damage alone total $1 billions so far. president obama is promising a quick response to victims from irene, but warns this event is not over yet and recovery will take weeks or longer. >>> one of the 15 deaths from irene happened in maryland. the woman was not outside, but in her home in queenstown. that tree crashed into her chimney which then crushed her. now that the hurricane has passed, maryland is cleaning up and watching for the waters that may rise. chris lawrence is live there. chris? >> reporter: you mentioned it, and i think people are breathing a sigh of relief tonight. you mentioned that one death, what we've heard from talking to people here is how close other people came. though today they're saying, look, this wasn't as bad as we thought. we came out of it okay. it really could have been down

cnn's amber lyon joins us from brattleboro in vermont. set the scene a little bit, amber, for what's going on. what are you seeing? what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, out here, wolf, had i been standing out here earlier yesterday, i would be completely under water. i want to come here and show you this brook right here, this is pretty much representative of what's across this state. this is wet stone brook, flowing more like a river now. it's about four feet wider than usual and look over here where it just washed away the ground underneath this art iist studio building. no one was inside at the time, no one was hurt. we're waiting for the building to collapse and fall into the water. another problem, because the governor says every waterway in the state of vermont is flooded is that they're worried about the roads. 260 roads in this state currently flooded and they're warning people not to get out and drive on roads even if they look okay because although the top of the road might look okay it may be eroded underneath and if you're

. >> nbc's rod allen is in brattleboro, vermont, which has seen some of of the worst flooding. ron, i saw the shot earlier today and it is unbelievable to see from a larger vantage point where you are standing right now. >> it is, tamron. this is about as bad as it gets. let me show everybody what i'm talking about. in in direction this water is a river now that has rushed through here and torn apart the corn over this three-story house. it was an artist colony where several artists used to work and live. the important thing is that this water was not here. this was dry land. the house was built on a street. on a roadway. the water was about 50 feet in that direction that was a babbling brook, and now you see what mother nature has done here. earlier we talked the one of the artists who worked here naomi goldie and this is what she had to say about her experience with this. >> this was actually a beautiful sculpture park twoday days ago then i got a call from my child who is 15 who said, mom, the back half of your studio just ripped away. >> reporter: nobody in vermont expected

joining me is gary tuchman in brattleboro. what's the latest there? it seems vermont has taken a real kicking. >> reporter: hey, piers. they are shocked in vermont. this is a state known for skiing, for mountains, not tropical systems. in parts of vermont you have rivers crest right now. this is the winewski river waters, but the river is a quarter mile down the road. it's cresting now. we expect by tomorrow there will be no more water here, but there will be mud in homes. particularly in southern vermont now, the waters are gone but the mud remains. there is so much tragedy here. three people have been killed here, one person is missing. there is shock because the creeks and brooks turned to raging rapids. even old timers have never seen it before in vermont. >> it would be pertinent about the discussion we are having about the media and warning. were the warnings substantial enough or regular enough in vermont? did people know what may be coming? >> first of all, there is a lot of resentment in vermont when people say this was hyped. this is the wor

. >> looks like the wetstone brook is flooding on route 9 in west brattleboro. bridge is out. main street is closed. haven't seen it like this in a long time. >> with waters continuing to rise and rivers increase in many states, heavy flooding could be a problem in the days to come. >> amazing how fast the water is moving. that's breaking news now. rivers still rising. vermont faces the worst flooding since 1927. 260 roads affected. numerous bridges including some straight off a picture postcard. this is a covered bridge just getting overcome with water. gary, what's the situation? >> reporter: we are in the northern part of vermont near the state's biggest city of burlington. these are waters from the winewski river but the river is behind me about a quarter mile. this is a street and the flooding in northern vermont is just starting to crest as we speak a day after the tropical storm came through. but the worst damage and worst devastation is not in the northern part of the state. it's in the south where we spent much of the day. that's where creeks and brooks became raging

officials are telling us there's still one person missing from the brattleboro area. they'll be working hard to get roads like route 4 reopened to keep traffic going back and forth, people need to get to work, and other sources. it's only just beginning. that's the latest, let's send it back to you. >> janet napolitano and craig fugate. raging river has crested. look at all that water. >> yeah, it has crested, but veronica, a lot left to go with receding waters here. this could be a little bit of what federal officials see today if they come to that paterson area, all this flooding still cutting off some of the neighborhoods. of course, we've had some dramatic rescues here in the last few days too, hundreds of families taken by boat to safety yesterday as well as 1,000 other people evacuated from this area. down river they are having a problem just as much as they are having here. it's a story all along here in paterson, many families out of their houses for days don't know when they are going to get back. >> what is the transportation system? i know roads have been c

we want to start this morning in vermont with nbc's ron allen, who's in brattleboro. ron, with over 250 roads that are washed out, explain how rescuers are doing what they can to reach these flood victims. >> reporter: well, the short answer is they're using every helicopter available, thomas. there are so many places where the roads are washed out. bridges have been knocked out. that's what vermont is. it's a collection of communities spread out across the state connectsed by roads and bridges. it it's hard to get to places because there's been so much damage. i want to show you the damage we're looking at here. it's some of the worst we've seen. this building used to be home for a number of artists. it's a three-story building, you can see. the first floor has been, the corner of the building has been completely washed away by the flood. keep in mind this river here used to be a creek. it used to be up there in that direction. it came down the hill with such force that it tore out this part of the land here, ripping out all that, which supported that building. now t

let's go ahead and start in brattleboro, vermont. irene was a tropical storm when it hit vermont but the damage there is still incredible? >> reporter: yes. i think it is pretty incredible that a tropical storm hit vermont, a land-locked state. >> we are going to get back to you. i want to take you live to the white house. president obama speaking about irene. >>> this morning, we are continuing to deal with the impact and aftermath of hurricane irene. as i said yesterday, we are going to make sure folks have all the support they need as they begin to access and repair the damage left by the storm. that's going to continue in the days ahead. it is going to take time to recover from a storm of this magnitude. the effects are still being felt across much of the country, including in new england and states like vermont where there has been an enormous amount of flooding. so our response continues but i'm going to make sure that fema and other agencies are doing everything in their power to help people on the ground. now, even as we deal

we go to ron in brattleboro. how impassable is it?: well, here's a bit of an example of how bad it is, i'm standing on what used to be a road. you can see just here to my life, camera right, it's gone. there's now a river there. this water wasn't here before the hurricane and the floods. and you can see it's ripped out the corner of that building. this water was about 100 yards over in that direction. about 50 yards over in that direction and it was a babbling brook. there used to be a little park with outdoor sculpture. this is an artist colony and the first floor had been completely torn out. across vermont that's what's happened to so many roads and bridges. there are 250 roads that have been washed away. just about every significant road in this state has been impacted by the hurricane in a bad way and there's damage. there's such a problem -- it's such a problem that they have to airlift supplies to people who are cut off in dozens of communities. chuck? >> ron, i want to emphasize that was a road. that is not a driveway, that wa

in downtown brattleboro, thousands of homes and businesses are without power.e the true extent of the damage. the governor, who surveyed the wreckage by helicopter, described the widespread devastation. >> we've seen so many heartbreaking stories that it's -- we need all the help we can get. >> reporter: the national guard is out with rapid response teams working on rescue and relief. but even the rescuers are in ne of help. >> the water level got right here. >> reporter: this firehouse, inundated by floodwaters. the water has receded but what a mess remains. as we make our way through what remains of the store, we're going to show you the kind of water damage that we're seeing up and down main street. take a look at this boutique. then as we make our way to the corner, you're going t tsee the 1938 famous flood. that was where the water was then. this is the watermark from yesterday. well above my head. linsey davis, abc news, wilmington, vermont. >> amazing footage there. also amazing pictures of flood damage out of new hampshire this morning. this was a roadw

our cnn national correspondent gary tuchman is in brattleboro, vermont. and gary, unbelievable pictures that we have seen and a lot of people did not expect the kind of water and flooding that they were going to get. what is it like now? is the water starting to recede a little bit? >> well, the river is receding a lot, but the damage is now able to be seen. this building for example is an art studio and five minutes ago, it was officially condemned.con? for a dramatic reason. the ground is muddy and that is because last night this was knee-deep. this is why, this used to be a quiet brook right here, and this is the art studio, and the building right over here, and this is why it is condemned. this brook used to be about ten feet wide, and children were swimming in it as late as two days ago, and now it is a rapid, and it eroded the ground under it, and this building could collapse at any time. it is sad for the artists inside, and there is a yoga studio inside, and painters and sculpt ors and the people on tht part of the building have not recovered thei

raging waters flowing through the streets of brattleboro. >> another ireporter captured this coveredreds. it breaks your heart. being there since 1870. floodwaters washed away several bridges, some of those historic ones and knocked some homes right off their foundation in the state. gary tuchman is live there. what's the scene this morning? >> reporter: a very sad scene, ali. this building behind me was an art studio, three-story art studio that now is in danger of collapsing into what looks like a raging rapid. but yesterday at this time, this was just a brook called the weststone brook. up until yesterday, children swam in here. it was ten feet wide. now with all the water that came down from tropical storm irene, it is 100-foot wide rapid. and the power from this water, the power from all the rain that went into the creek and all throughout the state of vermont have created problems like this. the power of the water end ed u leaving the building in this precarious shape. several artists do their work in here. i went inside the building to help some of the artists recover their ar