2 N.J. Towns Evacuated After Rains

Residents of two northern New Jersey towns were evacuated Sunday and others were put on alert in the wake of torrential downpours that washed out bridges and roads, broke through a dam and prompted fears of mudslides.

Officials estimated that Saturday’s downpour, which dumped more than 14 inches of rain on the area around Sparta, caused hundreds of million of dollars in damage.

“It was just water and trees and boulders coming everywhere,” said Sparta resident Terry Preskar Earl.

The storm caused about $166 million in damage in Sussex County alone, the area hit hardest by the storm, said Phil Morlock, the county’s health and public safety administrator.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman flew over the soaked counties Sunday morning to view the destruction.

In Sparta, officials evacuated some Main Street homes on Sunday because they feared mudslides. Several Sparta homes were already blocked on one side by a mudslide and on the other by a road that had become a brown river. Firefighters used ladders and ropes to ferry residents across the fast-moving current.

Homes in Hackettstown also were being evacuated and other area residents were put on alert.