At least three New Jersey towns were flooded Tuesday as water kicked up by Sandy barreled over a natural berm.

It took only about 30 minutes for the town of Moonachie, in Bergen County along the Hackensack River, to be nearly 6 feet under water. The towns of Little Ferry and Carlstadt were also affected.

A woman waved and shouted for help from her front porch as rescuers scrambled to save people in Bergen County. Hundreds of people have been whisked from rising water in their homes, many who climbed into boats that have navigated the murky water.

Some wore pajamas and were barefoot. Mothers carried diaper bags and crying kids. Thousands more remain stranded, local officials said, in as much as 6 feet of water.

“We’re in search-and-rescue mode,” said Jeanne Baratta, chief of staff to the Bergen County executive.

There are some reported injuries, but no one has learned of any deaths, Baratta said.

Moonachie has about 2,700 residents, according to the 2010 census.

Rescuers were charging up to second floors of homes and hovering in helicopters.

State police and the National Guard are helping. Rescue workers from Virginia are expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon, Baratta said.

“The rescue workers, they’re phenomenal,” she said. “They’re pulling together.”

The Bergen Record spoke with Jan Gulino, who lives in a Moonachie trailer park. She was among about 100 people at the Bergen County Technical High School shelter. She said she was watching TV at 1 a.m. when neighbors knocked on her door to tell her that her car was in deep water.

Together, they managed to push the car to higher ground. A rescue crew arrived and ordered her out of her house because there was kerosene in the water.

So Gulino grabbed her boxer, Max, and got on a boat, along with six neighbors. She was taken by truck, then bus, to the high school.

She’s just happy to be with Max. “I wasn’t going to go anywhere,” she told the paper, “without him.”

— CNN’s Tom Cohen and Brian Todd contributed to this report.