HOBOKEN, N.J. — National Guard troops sought on Wednesday to rescue thousands of residents still trapped by sewage-laced floodwaters in this city on the Hudson River, as local officials pleaded for volunteers to help.
A significant part of Hoboken remained under several feet of water after most of the low-lying land on the west side was engulfed by Hurricane Sandy.
When the storm surge hit on Monday night, the Hudson overcame the sea wall at the north and south ends of the city, in a devastating westward torrent that made an island of the slightly higher, eastern half of the city.
Hoboken, a city of 50,000 people, is directly across the river from Manhattan, and many of its residents work there.
After Mayor Dawn Zimmer appealed for aid on Tuesday, saying that as many as 20,000 people could be stuck in their homes, the first National Guard trucks arrived just before midnight. Overnight, they responded to emergency messages to locate people and transport them to dry ground.
On Wednesday, the trucks traveled down streets that were still passable on the west side, responding to people who waved from windows for help. On the city’s Facebook page, officials called on residents in need to listen for the trucks’ approach. By midday Wednesday, 12 National Guard trucks and two Humvee vehicles were in Hoboken for the rescue effort.
City officials have not reported any fatalities in Hoboken so far. Among the first to be rescued during the night were two babies, one 5 days old and another 3 weeks old. By midday Wednesday, the trucks at the unloading point by City Hall were bringing older people, including several in wheelchairs, and many families with babies and small children.
Robyn Pecarsky, who was eight months pregnant, was helped down from the back of a truck with her two children, who are 5 and 8.
“We saw the National Guard and I sent my husband to tell them he had to get his pregnant wife out,” Ms. Pecarsky said. She said the family lived in a third-floor apartment on Jackson Street that was not damaged, but as of this morning the water remained at thigh-high level on the ground floor of the building.
She said that the children had been in the house under curfew since Monday, and that nerves were raw. When she heard that power, which remained out in much of Hoboken, might not return for days, she decided that the family had to leave.
National Guard officials said they brought 2,000 emergency meals and were prepared to distribute them.
“This is flooding like we’ve never seen in Hoboken,” Mayor Zimmer said. “It filled the city like a bathtub.”
City officials were worried because the floodwaters are a brew of rain and river water mixed with sewage, Ms. Zimmer said. A sewage plant on the west side of the city had been overwhelmed in the flood, she said.
Many power lines were down on the largely residential west side. Although power remained out in many parts of the city, there was concern that some fallen wires might remain active.
The PATH train station, on the south end of the city, remained closed after water from the Hudson rushed in Monday night. Port Authority officials said the PATH tunnel under the river was filled with water. Many New Jersey commuters use the PATH system to get to work in Manhattan.
The Hoboken PATH station is the end point for many commuter trains arriving from elsewhere in New Jersey, and state officials said they expected it to remain closed for at least five days.
Interviewed in the basement of City Hall, where rescue officials in a makeshift operations center were down to one working phone line on Tuesday, the mayor said the city had only a single pump station on the south end of town to drain its streets and, eventually, its basements. At its peak performance, that station can pump out 75 million gallons a day, she said — but that still meant days, not hours, before the city could begin drying out.
The Hoboken fire chief, Richard Blohm, said Wednesday that two of the city’s fire stations were out of service, including his headquarters. On Monday night, he said, five feet of river water had surged into that station in five minutes, forcing the firefighters to evacuate to save their own lives.
Mr. Blohm said another fire station, including a hazardous materials unit, had been damaged but might be brought into service on Wednesday. Perhaps because power is out extensively, so far there have been few fires, he said.
Seven teams of volunteers had fanned out to knock on doors to search for people in distress, Mr. Blohm said.
Along Park Street south of Eighth Street, the boundary of the flood zone, residents had lined the streets with sodden sofas and were bringing cherished photographs into the sunlight to see if they could be salvaged. Cars blocked sidewalks after floating up off the street during the storm.
At Lisa’s Italian Deli, a popular Hoboken restaurant on Park and Ninth, the basement was filled and packages of sandwich meats and soft drinks were bobbing in the water.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting.
A significant part of Hoboken remained under several feet of water after most of the low-lying land on the west side was engulfed by Hurricane Sandy.
When the storm surge hit on Monday night, the Hudson overcame the sea wall at the north and south ends of the city, in a devastating westward torrent that made an island of the slightly higher, eastern half of the city.
Hoboken, a city of 50,000 people, is directly across the river from Manhattan, and many of its residents work there.
After Mayor Dawn Zimmer appealed for aid on Tuesday, saying that as many as 20,000 people could be stuck in their homes, the first National Guard trucks arrived just before midnight. Overnight, they responded to emergency messages to locate people and transport them to dry ground.
On Wednesday, the trucks traveled down streets that were still passable on the west side, responding to people who waved from windows for help. On the city’s Facebook page, officials called on residents in need to listen for the trucks’ approach. By midday Wednesday, 12 National Guard trucks and two Humvee vehicles were in Hoboken for the rescue effort.
City officials have not reported any fatalities in Hoboken so far. Among the first to be rescued during the night were two babies, one 5 days old and another 3 weeks old. By midday Wednesday, the trucks at the unloading point by City Hall were bringing older people, including several in wheelchairs, and many families with babies and small children.
Robyn Pecarsky, who was eight months pregnant, was helped down from the back of a truck with her two children, who are 5 and 8.
“We saw the National Guard and I sent my husband to tell them he had to get his pregnant wife out,” Ms. Pecarsky said. She said the family lived in a third-floor apartment on Jackson Street that was not damaged, but as of this morning the water remained at thigh-high level on the ground floor of the building.
She said that the children had been in the house under curfew since Monday, and that nerves were raw. When she heard that power, which remained out in much of Hoboken, might not return for days, she decided that the family had to leave.
National Guard officials said they brought 2,000 emergency meals and were prepared to distribute them.
“This is flooding like we’ve never seen in Hoboken,” Mayor Zimmer said. “It filled the city like a bathtub.”
City officials were worried because the floodwaters are a brew of rain and river water mixed with sewage, Ms. Zimmer said. A sewage plant on the west side of the city had been overwhelmed in the flood, she said.
Many power lines were down on the largely residential west side. Although power remained out in many parts of the city, there was concern that some fallen wires might remain active.
The PATH train station, on the south end of the city, remained closed after water from the Hudson rushed in Monday night. Port Authority officials said the PATH tunnel under the river was filled with water. Many New Jersey commuters use the PATH system to get to work in Manhattan.
The Hoboken PATH station is the end point for many commuter trains arriving from elsewhere in New Jersey, and state officials said they expected it to remain closed for at least five days.
Interviewed in the basement of City Hall, where rescue officials in a makeshift operations center were down to one working phone line on Tuesday, the mayor said the city had only a single pump station on the south end of town to drain its streets and, eventually, its basements. At its peak performance, that station can pump out 75 million gallons a day, she said — but that still meant days, not hours, before the city could begin drying out.
The Hoboken fire chief, Richard Blohm, said Wednesday that two of the city’s fire stations were out of service, including his headquarters. On Monday night, he said, five feet of river water had surged into that station in five minutes, forcing the firefighters to evacuate to save their own lives.
Mr. Blohm said another fire station, including a hazardous materials unit, had been damaged but might be brought into service on Wednesday. Perhaps because power is out extensively, so far there have been few fires, he said.
Seven teams of volunteers had fanned out to knock on doors to search for people in distress, Mr. Blohm said.
Along Park Street south of Eighth Street, the boundary of the flood zone, residents had lined the streets with sodden sofas and were bringing cherished photographs into the sunlight to see if they could be salvaged. Cars blocked sidewalks after floating up off the street during the storm.
At Lisa’s Italian Deli, a popular Hoboken restaurant on Park and Ninth, the basement was filled and packages of sandwich meats and soft drinks were bobbing in the water.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting.