Ida evacuee’s thought: ‘How am I going to get out of this?’

By WAYNE PARRY and MIKE CATALINI
Associated Press

MANVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Storm evacuees in Manville, a central New Jersey town along the rain-swollen Raritan River, told the same story. There was an urgent late-night knock on the door, a wall of water crashing into their apartments and a rescue by boat to higher ground. Richie Leonardis, a 60-year-old who has had one leg amputated and uses a wheelchair, said an air raid siren went off around 4 a.m. Thursday. Within minutes, police knocked on his door urging him to evacuate. Dozens are now at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post that was being used as a temporary shelter for displaced flood victims.