NORTH BABYLON, N.Y. — Communities across the U.S. are drying out after unusually heavy rains swamped highways, flooded basements and were blamed for at least four deaths.

Long Island residents were urged to remain off the road Wednesday as a round-the-clock recovery continued after a record 13.26 inches of rain fell between midnight and 9:30 a.m.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder issued a disaster declaration for the Detroit area after rain sent mud cascading down embankments, closing stretches of freeways all of Tuesday and part of Wednesday.

Officials at a Nebraska hospital said Wednesday its public cafeteria could stay shuttered for months after it was inundated by floodwater over the weekend.

The latest iteration of wild weather hit the northeast Tuesday night and lingered through Wednesday. A slow-moving system, powered by tropical moisture and clouds soaring far higher than in usual summer storms, lashed communities from Maryland to New England.

The hardest hit areas, Long Island’s Suffolk County and the towns of Islip and Brookhaven there, declared states of emergency after what County Executive Steve Bellone called an “unprecedented” deluge.