Photos: Worst floods in more than 100 years hitting US east coast, 2-3ft waters swamp local mall, roads cut off, cars submerged

Flood waters engulf the cars and offices of Village Collision and Automed Auto Sales on Aster Road in West Warwick, Rhode Island on April 1, 2010. The state received record rainfall earlier in the week causing flooding in many areas.

You’ll need your boat inside the mall, too.

The Rhode Island Mall in Warwick was flooded Wednesday by 2 to 3 feet of water. The mall's owner told the Providence Journal that the building, which houses about 70 stores, has never flooded in 40 years, and the retailers had very little time to protect the merchandise.

The Pawtuxet River spilled over its banks. A state of emergency was declared in Warwick, residents in Cranston are being evacuated, schools are canceled, and people were told not to flush their toilets.

March 27, 2009 - The Red River approaches record flood levels, likely to break century-old records. Flowing north toward Manitoba along the Minnesota-North Dakota border, the river is jammed up by ice and is being fed by rain, snow and meltwater. The National Weather Service has issued projections of a crest of 43 feet near Fargo, North Dakota, 24 feet above flood stage. Volunteers and national guardsmen are out in force, building levees, rescuing and evacuating those that need to get to higher ground. Cold temperatures are hampering efforts, freezing damp sandbags and making the job that much more strenuous for volunteers. 800 more National Guard troops and 150 Red Cross personnel are arriving in the area.

Volunteers fill sandbags during a sandbagging operation at the Fargo Dome March 24, 2009 in Fargo, North Dakota. The city has launched a massive volunteer sandbagging effort to hold back water from the rising Red River.

A North Dakota National Guard truck passes John Carlson as he wades from his home March 26, 2009 in Oxbow, North Dakota. Water from the Red and Wild Rice Rivers has begun to overtake the small community about 15 miles south of Fargo.

This aerial photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard and made from a Coast Guard rescue helicopter shows a small boat, center, used by the Coast Guard to transport six people and two dogs to a platform after the Red River flooded the Fargo area Wednesday March 25, 2009. The Coast Guard later hoisted the flood victims via helicopter to safety.

Volunteers help place sandbags outside the home of Jeremy Kuipers in Moorhead, Minn., Tuesday, March 24, 2009.

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Floods sweep through US east coast: the worst flooding to have hit the region in more than 100 years.. More heavy rainfall is forecast for this week. Floods have swept through parts of the US east coast, causing major flooding throughout the region. All major roads have been cut off and several cars remain submerged. US President Barack Obama has issued a state of emergency for Rhode Island, providing the state with financial assistance.

Officials in New England say they expect this to be the worst flooding to have hit the region in more than 100 years, as locals struggle to protect their homes and belongings from the rising waters.

More heavy rainfall is forecast for this week.

TheBostonChannel: Flooding on a scale rarely seen in New England forced hundreds of residents from their homes Wednesday, overwhelmed sewage systems and snarled traffic as major East Coast routes washed out or transformed into a soaked labyrinth of detours and closures. Businesses have also been hard hit. The Rhode Island Mall in Warwick was flooded Wednesday by 2 to 3 feet of water. The mall's owner told the Providence Journal that the building, which houses about 70 stores, has never flooded in 40 years, and the retailers had very little time to protect the merchandise.

Throughout the rest of Rhode Island, which bore the brunt of the storm, residents were experiencing the worst flooding in more than 100 years. Stretches of Interstate 95, the main route linking Boston to New York, were closed and could remain so for days.

Although there were minimal delays and cancellations at T.F. Green Airport on Wednesday, passengers were having hard time getting there because access roads and highways were flooded and closed. "They diverted you up and around Route 5 because Route 2 is totally under water. There's got to be at least 5 feet of water," one driver said.

Adding insult to injury, travelers who couldn't get to the airport can't try to take a train instead. Amtrak suspended Acela Express service between New Haven and Boston and Northeast Regional service between New York and Boston through at least Thursday morning because of ongoing flooding on the tracks near Kingston, R.I.

Every resident of Rhode Island, a state of about 1 million, was asked to conserve water and electricity because of flooded sewage systems and electrical substations. Rising waters either stranded hundreds of people or sent them to shelters. Many of those who stayed behind appeared shell-shocked, still recovering from floods two weeks ago caused by as much as 10 inches of rain.

Monica Bourgeois, 45, cried Wednesday morning as she stood outside her home in Cranston, where a sewer pump station gave out and hundreds of residents had evacuated by early Wednesday. The Pawtuxet River had turned her lawn into a lake and flooded her basement with 6 feet of still-rising water. "It's over the furnace. We're afraid it's going to hit the electrical panel. It's so awful. The whole basement is destroyed. The whole basement is under water," she said. "I have absolutely no idea how we're going to pay for this. I'm extremely, extremely worried. Do you know how much a new furnace costs? We're just praying to God for some help."

As three days of record-breaking rains tapered to a drizzle, forecasters warned the worst of widespread flooding from Maine to Connecticut was still ahead as rivers and streams had yet to crest -- for the second time in a month.

The flooding caps a month that set rainfall records across the region. Boston measured nearly 14 inches for March, breaking the previous record for the month, set in 1953. New Jersey, New York City and Portland, Maine, surpassed similar records. Providence registered its rainiest month on record, period, with a total of more than 15 inches of rain in March. "None of us alive have seen the flooding that we are experiencing now or going to experience," Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said. "This is unprecedented in our state's history."

President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration late Tuesday for Rhode Island, ordering federal aid for disaster relief and authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts.

But the havoc was spread throughout the region, as National Guard troops went into action in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Non-essential state workers in Rhode Island were given the day off, and state officials asked schools and private businesses to consider closing, as well.

Officials in water-weary Warwick, R.I., where a water and sewage treatment plant failed, asked residents not to launder clothes or flush toilets. The state also asked people to stay off highways and local roads. The University of Rhode Island system canceled classes on Wednesday. Heavy rains in Connecticut caused the earth under a Middletown apartment complex parking lot to give way, leaving two buildings teetering over the ravine of a river. Residents were taken to an emergency shelter at a high school. Authorities also evacuated 50 units at a condominium complex in Jewett City in eastern Connecticut because a sewage treatment plant next door was under at least 4 feet of water. Floodwaters washed out a two-lane highway bridge at Groton.

In Massachusetts, the biggest concerns were in the southeastern part of the state, where a highway was closed, said state Emergency Management Agency spokesman Scott MacLeod. A bridge gave out in Freetown, isolating about 1,000 residents, he said.

North of Boston, Peabody District Court was closed Wednesday because flooding in the downtown area made it inaccessible. Some residents there evacuated. Heavy rains buckled a road in Fall River.

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that the city was facing "dire circumstances." Authorities there said that the Pawtuxet River flooding was unprecedented and that they didn't know what damage to expect.

One resident hung a sign: "FEMA + State + City of Cranston. Buy our houses."

"Right now it's bad and getting worse," said Brian Dupont, a real estate broker who owns two homes on the street. He feared the dozens of sandbags protecting the homes would offer minimal protection.

Standing water pooled on or rushed across roads in the region, making driving treacherous and forcing closures. Adjutant General Robert Bray, the commander of the Rhode Island National Guard, said the area south of Providence was like a "maze" with drivers repeatedly getting stuck.

In Maine, a dam in Porter let loose Tuesday morning, sending a torrent of water down country roads. No evacuations or injuries were reported.

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Photos courtesy of UPI / Matthew Healey, TheBostonChannel.com, AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster, Scott Olson / Getty Images, Reuters / Eric Miller, Scott Olson / Getty Images, AP Photo / U.S. Coast Guard, Lt. Brendan Evans, AP Photo / The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Richard Tsong-Taatarii, and Examiner

Image Gallery: Red River flooding