With rapids-like fury, water piled out of New York Harbor on Monday night and flooded scores of city streets, venturing far deeper into neighborhoods than anyone could remember. Red Hook in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan seemed to bear the brunt of the onslaught, though similar scenes unfolded in Queens and in Upper Manhattan.

On Tuesday morning, the waters had mostly receded in the two neighborhoods across the harbor from each other, and the most recent high tide came and went without breaching the sea walls. But numerous buildings had had their first floors and basements flooded and power was out.

In Red Hook, residents and business owners picked through their waterlogged possessions. On Van Brunt Street, residents pulled soggy mattresses onto the street. A half-foot of water still filled Beard Street, and portions of Pier 41, which is filled with businesses and artist studios, appeared to be gone.

“It’s a disaster,” said Greg O’Connell, whose father, also Greg, developed much of Red Hook in the late 1990s.