PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. -- UPDATE: Part of the Lambertville sewage treatment plant is under water.
Sewage authority director Jim Meehan says all the wastewater coming in is still being treated and the Delaware River is not being contaminated.
Floodwaters in Hunterdon County breached a levee in Stockton. But county emergency management officials say the breach did not pose a threat to lives because nearby residents had already evacuated.
Officials say the flooding along the Delaware River in New Jersey is not as bad as first projected.
But State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes says that's like "putting a dress on the pig.'' Fuentes says the river is still raging and thousands of people who were evacuated might not get back home for several days.
Gov. Corzine says about 1,800 homes have been flooded.
Corzine says it appears the river will crest at 25 feet in Trenton this afternoon. Even though that's below yesterday's estimate, Corzine says there still will be serious damage.
"For a disaster, it was actually a pretty organized disaster,'' said Bill Powell, emergency management coordinator in Hunterdon County.
1010 WINS AUDIO: John Montone reports from the Delaware River near Phillipsburg
Gov. Jon S. Corzine declared a statewide emergency and planned to tour the affected area by helicopter Thursday morning.
As of early Thursday, no deaths or serious injuries had been attributed to the flooding in New Jersey, but at least 12 people were reported dead elsewhere as rivers surged out of their banks from upstate New York to Virginia after several days of torrential rains.
"I believe that God's going to see us through this,'' Peggy Wene, 64, a Phillipsburg resident who was in the shelter set up at a middle school there Wednesday night, told the Express-Times of Easton, Pa., for Thursday's newspapers. "He's seen us through the others.''
INTERACTIVE: Northeast Flooding
At Phillipsburg, the river was nearly 14 feet above flood stage at 4 a.m. Thursday and was expected to crest around 8 a.m. The river's banks had overflowed by 7 a.m., and water was slowly spreading toward the front doors of downtown businesses.
Debris-choked water thundered against a bridge in downtown Phillipsburg and, across the river in Pennsylvania, Easton's downtown was under water.
Anywhere from 100 to 150 Phillipsburg residents were expected to voluntarily leave their homes, according to Mayor Harry Wyant.
David Yacko was not among them.
"Most of the time you just put stuff up as high as you can,'' said Yacko, 56. "You learn to go with the flow of Mother Nature.''
Elsewhere in Warren County, more than 1,300 residents in seven river towns were expected to evacuate, according to Pat Rivoli, the county's emergency management coordinator.
A levee in Stockton was breached early Thursday, Hunterdon County emergency management officials said. Nearby residents had already evacuated.
The Lambertville sewage and dechlorination plants were both under water Thursday morning, possibly contaminating the Delaware River as well as the community's water supply, said Neal Buccino, spokesman for the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
Farther south, more than 6,000 residents in flood-prone areas of Mercer County had evacuated their homes, a county spokeswoman said. The National Weather Service on Thursday extended a flood warning for the area until Saturday afternoon.
At Trenton, where the river was expected to crest some 5.5 feet above flood stage Thursday afternoon, 45 people had registered at a Red Cross shelter at a city elementary school.
More than 170 residents of the city's Water's Edge nursing home had been moved to other facilities, said Mercer County spokeswoman Xan Nowakowski.
Among those ordered out of their homes were Althea Alford and her 75-year-old mother, who were making their third visit to a disaster shelter in less than two years. Flooding in September 2004 and April 2005 destroyed their oil furnace and other basement appliances.
"We're just praying,'' said Alford. "It's more depressing now because it's the third time.''
VIDEO: Northeast Left to Strubble with Flooding
Nonessential state workers were sent home Wednesday and told to stay home on Thursday. The Statehouse, which overlooks the river, remained open, although its flood-prone parking garage was shut down.
Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer called for water conservation after the filtration system at the city water plant shut down due to debris in the river. The mayor said more than two days of drinkable water remained.
The anticipated river crest at Trenton on Thursday afternoon -- 25.5 feet -- would be the fourth-highest ever recorded there, the National Weather Service said. The highest was 30.6 feet in March 1904. In April 2005 the river crested at 25.3 feet.
Early Thursday, the National Weather Service canceled a flood warning for the Raritan River in Middlesex and Somerset counties, but said other inland rivers such as the Ramapo were likely to flood.
Possible thunderstorms Thursday afternoon and evening had the potential to complicate the weather even more.
In New York, More Rain Expected for Upstate Areas
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) _ Flood victims in upstate New York are likely to get something they doesn't need today -- more rain.
Forecasters are calling for scattered thunderstorms across eastern New York, with possibly severe weather in some areas later in the day. Any precipitation is likely to add to the flooding that Governor Pataki estimates has already caused about $100 million dollars in damage in more than a dozen counties in the eastern half of the state.
The flooding has claimed three lives in New York, including two truck drivers who were killed yesterday morning when a culvert under Interstate 88 in Delaware County gave way.
A few thousand people have had to evacuate their homes, including about 15-hundred people who spent last night at an emergency shelter set up on the Binghamton University campus.
The Binghamton area is one of the hardest hit, with the Susquehanna River overflowing its banks and washing away homes.
More Video:
First Person: Flooding's Fierce Toll on a Pennsylvania Family
Previous Stories:
Gov. Corzine Declares Statewide Emergency
Gov. Pataki Declares State Disaster Emergency
Flooding Photos
Related Links:
Hunterdon County Public Safety: Situation Reports
Cleaning Up After Basement Flooding
NJ Red Cross: Shelter Information
Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Warren County Public Safety
NJ Office of Emergency Management
New York State Emergency Management Office
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