Storm Claims 7th Victim, Upstate Woman Lost in Flood

The body of a 55-year-old woman reported missing amid a deadly Northeast storm was pulled from a reservoir Saturday, a day after police believe rising waters swept her car off the road.

Searchers recovered Nancy Lavelle's body Saturday morning in the Neversink Reservoir in Bradley, more than 10 miles from where her vehicle was found the previous day. The car was upside down in a remote part of the Neversink River, said state police Sgt. James Rafferty.

"We believe that while headed to work, she probably drove into or got caught up in high water on what's called Hunter Road," where floodwaters reached a depth of 3 to 4 feet, Rafferty said.

Lavelle was reported missing when she hadn't shown up to her job at a window manufacturer in Milton by 8:30 a.m. — more than three hours after she'd left her Willowemoc home.

Disaster struck on a picturesque stretch of Lavelle's commute — the two-lane Hunter Road winds through a secluded, forested area with few homes. It crosses the Neversink River, which leads into the Neversink Reservoir, which holds up to 34.9 billion gallons of water and helps provide water to New York City, more than 75 miles south.

The pounding storm wreaked havoc up the East Coast on Thursday and Friday, submerging cars, cutting power to thousands and forcing scattered evacuations. It was blamed for five deaths in North Carolina on Thursday. And in Pennsylvania on Friday a woman died after apparently driving her car into a rain-swollen creek before daybreak.