Flash Flooding in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York turns roads into rivers

They climbed rafts and river boats, Humvees and the bucket of a front loader to escape the rapid rise of water, as heavy rains hit the northeast Tuesday.

Sudden floods caused traffic jams and toppled transportation in the New York area, leaving some fire departments overwhelmed by calls for help.

More than six inches of rain flooded portions of Connecticut on Tuesday, flooding university streets and campuses and causing a tough night for many locals. Parts of New York and New Jersey have also been submerged by more than four inches in the past 24 hours.

Sections of Routes 1 and 9 in northern New JerseyThe roads connecting the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels have been closed due to flooding. The northbound lanes of Pulaski Skyway were also closed after traffic on Routes 1 and 9 was interrupted.

In the Bronx, parts of Mosholu Drive were flooded near Interstate 87, and part of the Bronx River Walk appeared to be a shallow, calm river by Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the floods also blocked some of Riverside Drive in northern Manhattan.

Interstate 95 near Norwalk, Connecticut, flooded, causing lane closures and traffic jams. At about 10 miles, in Stamford, fire department officials said they had to do "dozens of water rescues" because of the rain and urged the drivers to stay out of the way.

With much of the flooded area and normal access roads blocked, rescue workers in the area used creative vessels to transport stranded commuters to the flooded streets.

In Stamford, students who were in a school bus crashed in the floods were rescued in a large white canoe, shot through the water by a rubber boot rescuer.

In the city of Fairview, New Jersey, close to a hundred workers in a local warehouse were trapped by the sudden flash flood and could not get to their car. The local fire department asked Eddie Smith, 56, to use his front loader to transport people through the water in the bucket before.

"The water was about four feet," said Smith, who passes through Igor. "When I arrived, people started piling in the bucket. I've done about seven or eight trips. The bucket was full.

Mr. Smith said that he had saved about 45 people.

"I started at 2 am last night," he said. "I have to go back home. And now, my vehicle is stuck.

Bus services throughout New Jersey were delayed due to the weather and the PATH train system allowed bus passengers to use their tickets to board Newark trains.

Flights to Newark Liberty International Airport experienced delays of up to one hour and 24 minutes. according to the Twitter feed of the airport.

In the city of Hackensack, New Jersey, fire officials said they had done several water rescues and advised residents to stay out of all roads.

"We have probably removed about 10 or 15 people from vehicles in various parts of the city, which are generally flooded due to heavy rains," said Captain Justin Derevyanik of the Hackensack Fire Department. He stated that they were using an inflatable boat and an ocean-going vehicle to evacuate people trapped in the water.

Carl Mancini, 61, warehouse manager at Hackensack, said six of his colleagues and he had to leave their car in the parking lot of their company to avoid being stuck.

"People are stuck here all the time," he said about a stretch of South Newman Street outside of his workplace. "It looks like a river."

Yet some drivers have tried to make their regular trips despite the weather. Daniel Chacon, 67, who also works in the area, said he saw at least two cars stuck in the floodwaters.

"We will have to wait for the sun to dry," Chacon said. "There is no drainage here."

On Tuesday afternoon, some services were recovered after previous meteorological incidents. The floods briefly hit one of the two eastbound lanes of the Newark-World Trade Center PATH at Journal Square Station in Jersey City, New Jersey, causing delays, but the runway was reopened before the -midday.

But at the intersection of Cypress Avenue and River Road in Bogota, New Jersey, an impromptu lake slowly impinged on a train overpass.

Just on the other side of the viaduct, a big yellow sign on the road offered a warning: "Road May Flood".