Nor’easter Brings Heavy Rain, Wind, Slow Travel

A Nor'easter has arrived in New Jersey bringing with it heavy rain and high winds.

Heavy rain fell all night across the state with a total of 2-4 inches expected to fall leading to flooding on some roads. A Flood Watch is in effect for Camden, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Burlington, Salem and Somerset counties until 1 p.m.

There was flooding during the morning commute on I-287 in Bernards and on the Garden State Parkway in Bloomfield and Cranford.

Temperatures were around 60 on Wednesday morning but will fall during the afternoon into the 40s. The rain could end as some snow on Wednesday afternoon and roads could freeze up as the cold air moves in. A Wind Advisory for coastal areas was canceled although winds will still reach 20-30 MPH out of the south.

There are also some power outages from fallen power lines and tree limb. At 5:20 a.m. nearly 2,300 JCP&L customers were without power in Monmouth County mostly around Freehold according to the utility's outage map. An earlier power outage affected several hundred in Lakewood. Over 2,200 PSEG customers are in the dark in Camden County while over 1,500 Atlantic City Electric customers are without power on its outage map mostly in Washington (Gloucester County).

Flight delays are expected at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia and Philadelphia. So far, the storms have not resulted in many flight delays or cancellations, but forecasters were expecting the weather to worsen throughout the day.

"The timing of the storm couldn't be worse," said Chris Vaccaro, spokesman for the National Weather Service headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. "We are seeing numerous threats as the storm is beginning to develop and intensify."

Heavy rain and breezy conditions were to strike the East Coast from the Carolinas to the Northeast on Wednesday, with ice and snow a possibility in the Appalachians, western Pennsylvania and western New York. Snow totals from the Ohio Valley to the interior of the Northeast were expected to be less than 10 inches, the weather service said.

The storm system, which developed in the West, has been blamed for at least 11 deaths, half of them in Texas. It limped across Arkansas with a smattering of snow, sleet and freezing rain that didn't meet expectations.

Text WEATHER to 89000 for advisories and the latest on the storm as it develops.