It's an heavy mess

(CNN) -- Despite the sunny sky, flood warnings remained in effect Wednesday for areas of several states hard-hit by Hurricane Irene,Cheap Oakley Sunglasses, as authorities skirmished to clean up and rebuild roads and bridges in the aftermath of the storm.

"Nobody that got hit with this flooding evaded a bullet," Craig Fugate, Federal Emergency Management Agency custodian, said Wednesday. "Loss of life, extensive damages, homes flooded. ... It may not have been as huge a handle on the coast, but these flood areas definitely got hit hard."

Irene slew 43 people from Florida to New England as it marched up the Eastern Seaboard over the weekend, dumping torrential rain. Some of the worst flooding struck Vermont, New Jersey and upstate New York.

More than 1.8 million purchasers remained without electricity Wednesday from North Carolina to Maine, the U.S. Department of Energy said -- a decrease from the 2.8 million reported Tuesday p.m.. Outage diagrams contain more than 366,000 in Connecticut and 323,000 in New York.

The Passaic River in northern New Jersey seemed to mimic the town of Little Falls as the water surging through it saw more favor Niagara Falls.

"Before Irene kick, the Passaic River was yet running tall from prevalent precipitation this summer," Wheeler Antabanez of neighboring Montclair said. "When the tornado blew through and dumped all that water on north Jersey, the river began to rage."

About 1,700 residents were evacuated from their families in Wayne, Totowa, Little Falls, Paterson and Woodland Park, said Edward O'Connell, a spokesman for Passaic County's Office of Emergency Management.

President Barack Obama will travel to Paterson on Sunday to view damage from Hurricane Irene, the White House announced.

Rescues were still taking place Wednesday, Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones said. "All it takes is something to call and say they're under anguish, and we and our boats are going out and taking people to safety," he said. City officials were prologue schools and other facilities to serve as asylums, he said.

"It's been pretty many 24 hours a day," said Sgt. Alex Popov of the Paterson Police Department.

Once floodwaters start to recede, the afterward step will include going house to house and checking furnaces, peppery water heaters and other utensils to reduce the risk of explosions when they are restarted,Oakley Sunglasses Cheap, Jones said.

Asked about those who did not attend an evacuation warning, Jones said, "I don't consider folks were aware -- neither were we aware -- that it could obtain this extreme."

Flood warnings remained in achieve for portions of New Jersey on Wednesday, by with portions of North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Also Wednesday, Obama signed disaster declarations for New Jersey, North Carolina and New York.

"I think the chat of hype is being hyped," Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said Wednesday on the debate over if Irene was overhyped. "The reality is, the people of Connecticut are hurting. ... Although it's bright outdoor, we're still experiencing the effects."

He said homes and infrastructure have been demolished and the Connecticut River basin has seasoned ponderous overrunning. Much of the damage is watched in the state's rustic districts, he said. "We have harvests that are under water."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Fugate were traveling to New Jersey and New York Wednesday to check on local recovery and rejoinder efforts. On Tuesday, Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited affected areas in North Carolina and Virginia, while Fugate visited Vermont.

The visits, although, come among concerns over FEMA funding. The agency's disaster relief fund has less than $800 million remaining and could run out before the end of the present financial year on September 30.

With conservative House Republicans, led by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, shrieking for costing slits to offset anyone increase in crisis funds -- a weigh disapproved at numerous Democrats -- the aptitude of Congress apt act rapidly on the publish remains precarious.

"Right now, we're continuing our obligations to react" with salvage operations and conference the momentary needs of storm survivors, Fugate said Wednesday. The only object the agent has done, he said, is state that it won't be proficient to fund permanent work from disasters that has as yet been began. "We are postponing the permanent work," he said.

But search-and-rescue teams are on the floor, he said, and food and water is creature handed out to those in need. "This is a crew effort," he said. "... Americans help Americans in calamities. We're doing our job. We're working hard."

Jones said he was "outraged" about the funding squabble. "Mother Nature has a idea of her own, a will of her own, and we can't have the petty wrangling working above when we have folks in dire need," he said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reverberated those sentiments during a newspaper conference Wednesday, saying, "We don't have time to wait for folks in Congress to figure out how they ambition to offset this matter with the budget cuts. Our human are suffering now. And they need assist now."

Consolidated Edison reported that it met its goal to reinstate power to nearly entire New York City customers by Tuesday night, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. Work to restore power somewhere was progressive Wednesday.

The full extent of Irene's erasure won't be known fall butme period. The federal government estimates that the cost from wind damage lonely will surpass $1 billion. Analysts have put the aggregate expected cost of Irene many higher.

Vermont transportation officials were able to make emergency repairs on roads to more or less one of about a dozen formerly isolated towns, officials said.

Air drips were being made to three towns. The National Guard is carrying supplies to other communities, said Mark Bosma, speaker for Vermont Emergency Management.

Because the repaired roads are proposed for emergency and supply distribution vehicle, dwellers will have to await for more permanent repairs to resume their age driving habits. That namely anticipated to take at least several weeks alternatively months in some cases.

"We've transitioned into the recovery stage for the most part," Bosma said. "The worst is over."

The Vermont Campground Association reported that only 2 of its seven membership campgrounds suffered meaningful harm, and more than 70 campgrounds will be open because the coming Labor Day weekend.

"Some are cleaning up downed trees, but maximum are ready for observers," said Peter Daniels,Cheap Oakleys, the association's administrative manager, in a prepared statement. Most roads leading to campgrounds are open, the association said. The two campgrounds that suffered nationwide damage -- Camping on the Battenkill in Arlington and Abel Mountain Campground in Braintree -- remained closed.

In Grafton, Vermont,Oakley Sunglasses outlet, 800 residents were stranded. "It's an heavy muddle," Tara Taylor, who fled Grafton for beside Rockingham along with her home, said Tuesday. "There's not words to narrate this."

While part of Grafton had electricity, much of the town was running on generators, she said. But as far as she knew, people were well, and no one had been impair, Taylor said.

"We've been very fortunate with this," she said.

Storm cleanup efforts also were ongoing in the Bahamas on Wednesday, a week behind Irene struck there. The National Emergency Management Agency was coordinating the shipment of merchandise to Rum Cay, Cat Island, Crooked Island and Acklins, according to Bahamas Information Services. A shipment of goods from Jamaica was received by Mayaguana on Saturday.

Meanwhile, some of the areas that fled Irene without important damage -- such as the state of Maryland -- still took a direct hit in the pocketbook.

Maryland lost more than $2 million in direct revenue over the past weekend, including one estimated $1.75 million in sales tax revenue and $150,000 in withholding taxes deserving to the evacuation of Ocean City, according to Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot.

Officials estimated a $60,000 loss in gas tax revenue because of repealed weekend trips, and a loss of roughly $45,000 in toll revenue from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Additionally, Ocean City lost nearly $40,000 of receptions and amusement tariff revenue from its many attractions and events

But Franchot did not answer the determination to evacuate the town. "Given the ruinous clash of this storm on additional parts of our country ... am deeply thankful that Ocean City and the state of Maryland for a entire weathered this storm with minimal injury or loss of life," he said in a expression.
CNN's Mike Alhlers, Phil Gast, Ed Payne and Melanie Whitley and CNN iReport's Germain Perez and Katie Hawkins-Gaar endowed to this report.