NEWFANE, Vt. — As emergency airlift operations brought ready-to-eat meals and water to Vermont residents left isolated and desperate, states along the Eastern Seaboard continued to be battered by the after effects of Irene, the destructive hurricane turned tropical storm.

Dangerously damaged infrastructure, 2.5 million people without power and thousands of water-logged homes and businesses continued to overshadow the lives of residents and officials from North Carolina through New England, where the storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths in 13 states.

Raging floodwaters continued to ravage parts of northern New Jersey Wednesday morning, even after the state’s rain-swollen rivers crested and slowly receded.

The Passaic River crested Tuesday night, causing extensive flooding along its course and forcing a round of evacuations and rescues in Paterson, the state’s third-largest city.

“Been in Paterson all my life, I’m 62 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said resident Gloria Moses as she gathered with others at the edge of what used to be a network of streets, now covered by a lake.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, after touring Wayne, through which the Passaic also flows, said Tuesday night he saw “just extraordinary despair.”

He said inland flooding would probably continue another 48 hours and additional shelters were still being opened.

In Connecticut, the Connecticut River at Hartford crested Tuesday evening at 24.8 feet, the highest level since 1987, according to Nicole Belk, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service, in Taunton, Mass. But she said levees in Hartford and East Hartford helped minimize flooding in riverside communities.

She said the river could still rise slightly farther south, in Middletown, where some streets and neighborhoods were already experiencing minor flooding.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy toured hard-hit coastal areas — including a peninsula in Fairfield that was lined with heavily damaged homes on Long Island Sound.

Communities on the East Coast continued recovery efforts Tuesday, with people moving out of emergency shelters in western Massachusetts, farmers in New York’s battered Schoharie Valley assessing crop losses and an insurance agent in Pawtucket, R.I., fielding dozens of calls from customers making damage claims.

“The majority of the claims are trees down,” said Melanie Loiselle-Mongeon. “Trees on houses, on fences, on decks, on cars.”

In Vermont, officials focused on providing basic necessities to residents who in many cases still have no power, no telephone service and no way to get in or out of their towns.

On Tuesday night, 11 towns — Cavendish, Granville, Hancock, Killington, Mendon, Marlboro, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Stockbridge, Strafford and Wardsboro — were cut off from the outside.

But by Wednesday morning, all but one of the communities — Wardsboro— had been reached by ground crews, emergency management officials said.

And it’s hoped that Wardsboro can be reached Wednesday morning, said Emergency Management spokesman Robert Stirewalt

He said the crude roads are not for general use and are only passable by emergency vehicles.