RICHMOND, Va.- Flooding touched off by the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston left at least five people dead in Virginia yesterday and devastated a historic Richmond neighborhood that was the heart of the Confederate capital during the Civil War.

In the city’s hard-hit Shockoe Bottom district, dozens of cars that had been carried off by the raging floodwaters were strewn about the streets, which were caked with mud and scattered with bricks and other debris. Numerous businesses and apartments were flooded. A produce truck lay overturned. A brick building had collapsed onto several vehicles.

Residents and city officials described a scene of terror as floodwaters fed by a foot of rain swept through the low-lying area on Monday, reaching depths of up to 10 feet. Rescue crews helped lift passengers out the windows of a marooned bus, and panicked motorists raced to escape their cars as the floodwaters engulfed them.

City officials closed off 20 blocks of the Shockoe Bottom district – or about half of the historic area – near the James River, declaring them off limits until the buildings could be inspected to make sure they were safe.

Officials said that the damage would easily be in the millions of dollars but that it was too early to provide an estimate.

“The devastation to a lot of the businesses in Shockoe Bottom is overwhelming,” said Governor Warner, who walked through the muddy streets. He said he would ask Washington to declare a state of emergency.

The storm surprised meteorologists, who had forecast no more than 4 inches of rain. But the system parked itself over the Richmond area for several hours. Northeast of the city, rural King William County received 14 inches, the National Weather Service said.

“This truly was an act of God,” the governor said.

Luissa Alba, who was rescued from her apartment building by boat, said she saw one person trying to escape the rising floodwaters by clinging to a railroad trestle. A woman holding a child in each arm stood on top of her car, screaming for help, she said.

Alba, 28, said for some reason, she could not reach a 911 on her cell phone.

At least five people died in the storm. Two of them died in a creek in Richmond. In nearby Chesterfield County, rescuers pulled a woman’s body from a submerged car yesterday. Two other deaths occurred in Hanover County north of the city.

About 51,000 customers of Dominion Virginia Power had no electricity yesterday, mostly in the Richmond area. A brick substation that fed the Shockoe Bottom area disintegrated, and utility officials did not know when they would be able to return power to the district’s estimated 13,600 homes and businesses.

Elsewhere, Hurricane Frances grew to a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds yesterday as it headed past Puerto Rico on a course that could bring it ashore in hard-hit Florida or somewhere else in the Southeast this weekend, the National Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning was issued for the southeastern Bahamas.