(The Associated Press distributed the following article on July 13.)
BOSTON — It turns out there was enough rain to slow a train to a crawl.
Heavy rains and flooding caused more than a dozen Amtrak trains in Maryland to creep along at just 2 mph Monday night after a foot or more of rain soaked parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, rupturing dams and forcing hundreds of people from their homes.
Heavy damage, but no injuries, were reported in south-central New Jersey, where the storm hit the hardest. At least five dams broke overnight.
Parts of northeastern Maryland got up to 8 inches of rain, and eastern Pennsylvania absorbed about 6 inches.
Most of the waters had subsided by Tuesday morning and main roads were reopened.
States of emergency were declared in several towns, and more than 500 people were evacuated and taken to temporary shelters set up in schools and government buildings. Some people were rescued from the roofs of stranded cars — some by boats — and motorists had to be rescued when their cars were stranded.
Gushing water rose as deep as 5 feet on the main street of one town, stranding people in their homes within a few seconds.
At a bowling alley in eastern Pennsylvania, the rain sent a mass of water, rock and dirt cascading into the building.