and in carlstadt rescues are taking place. having trouble getting to the scene because the roadways are so bad. when she arrives on the scene, she'll bring us much more information. sandy's trail of devastation goes beyond flooding. a fire has destroyed at least 50 homes in the breezy point neighborhood of queens, new york. deborah feyerick is covering that part of the story. good morning, deb. >> reporter: good morning. we want to tell you, the damage out here is extraordinary. more than 50 homes. missing their faces, just sheared off. this gentleman and his family were here overnight. this is steve and his wife and his daughter. first of all, tell us, you stayed overnight. what was it like? >> there was nothing you could do. there was water surrounding the hous house. >> reporter: why did you decide to stick it out? >> i'm a volunteer firefighter, trying to give a helping hand. and we got trapped. can't even help anybody. i couldn't help myself. >> reporter: were there moments where you thought this is it, we're not going to

also carlstadt and little ferry the other two towns affected.have been plucked out of their second floor windows or off the top of their trailer home -- trailer park homes. they're being rescued at this hour by rescuers who are putting boats and high water vehicle out there to try to save people. this has been going on, apparently the levee breach happened around midnight and the rescue efforts happened starting around 2:00 in the morning. this is happening in the southern part of bergen county, in new jersey. continue to monitor that. then let's take a look -- i should mention these are from a firefighter and ambulance driver, bob munoz sending us those pictures. let's go to jeanne bar at to from the bergen county police department. here's what she told me. >> when all is said and done we're talking about hundreds, possibly 1,000 people that we may have to go and rescue. and yes, there's a trailer park in moonachie and the people are on the roof of those buildings. >> okay. our other breaking story, breezy point, queens, that's the rockaway sec

they're trying to rescue the folks in the towns of carlstadt, little ferry and moonachie.little ferry police department, ralph verdi and he talked a little bit about some of the rescues that are under way. here's what he said. >> we are still doing rescues. full rescues from houses. we have between four to six feet of water in different sections of town. and right now, about 75% of the town is affected. >> so what we are told is absolutely devastating. that there are people who are on top of their roofs of their home, if they are in a trailer park in moonachie, for example. apparently that has been inundated with four and five feet of water. those folks have climbed onto the roofs of their homes and they are waiting to be rescued. they have called for help from other counties to help, as well, and it is really cold out here. so once can imagine just how horrible it must be for the people. we've got a cnn crew heading there. we will bring you pictures of what is happening there across those three towns in the southern part of bergen county, new jersey, as soon as we can get

the town where i am, moonachie, little ferry got affected by that breach and also carlstadt.e towns yesterday, of moonachie, two elderly residents. both of them have lived here for a long, long time, and they talked about just the horrific story of what happened when that levee breached and this town was flooded. >> i've never seen anything like this ever. >> can you describe what happened when the water came? >> we were sleeping. my daughter and i, all of a sudden the water came in like a river. >> thank god i got out of there. my kitchens are full. and then my living room is full. so i lost everything. my sofa, everything. >> so for those ladies and thousands of others, today is a day where they're going to come back to these homes to see what's happened there, they can repair any of the damages, if the homes are even habitable at this point. luckily we've had no reports of fatalities in any of these three towns that were affected. some minor injuries but no fatalitie fatalities. >> brian, the damage is still being assessed, obviously. what do you know about the overall fal

just, you know, engulfing this section of moon okay ki and two adjoining towns, little ferry and carlstadtople starting to come back to their homes today. we see people streaming back into the neighborhood. but there are hazards involved in doing that. you've got a downed power cable line here. this scene is repeated on street after street. people have to be very careful. a lot of them, a lot of these lines are just barely visible. as we said the water is starting to recede. this whole street was flooded yesterday. people had to be rescued from this area. the water has receded. still fairly deep at the end of the street here but it has gone down a little bit since we were here earlier this morning. yesterday, very, very dramatic scene, water rescues, there were swift water rescue teams going house to house knocking on doors. as you mention, soledad, people getting plucked from the roofs of their houses. it was just incredible scene. officials here tell us that probably no fewer than 3,000 homes were either damaged or almost destroyed by that breach of the hackensack river at a berm not to

three towns, moonachie, little ferry, and carlstadt, three towns very close together, completely engulfed on. that's when the hackensack river, from a tidal surge from the storm, basically breached a berm or a levee, we're not sure exactly which one it was, but it was something, you know, an earthen fortification. it got breached by a tidal surge, and within minutes, those three towns were completely engulfed in water, 4 to 6 feet on the street. again, in neighborhood after neighborhood. we have some sound now that we've gotten from two people. one of them is grace pasquale, an elderly resident of moonachie who's lived there for at least a decade. she'll tell us about what she lost. the second person you'll hear from is kathleen, but first let's hear from grace pasquale, a resident of moonachie, new jersey. >> thank god i got in. the second floor, so my kitchens are full. so -- and my living room is full. so i lost everything. my sofa, my kitchen, everything. >> if you've ever seen the aftermath of a flood, it's all the debris that's left behind. it's people who are in hisry, because they