Flash Flood — Essex, New Jersey

2024-08-18 · near Bloomfield, Essex, New Jersey

Event narrative

Several cars stranded in flood waters on the Garden State Parkway North of I-78, especially in the area of Bloomfield.

Wider weather episode

A frontal system over the area on August 18th produced heavy thunderstorms that were fairly slow moving over northeast New Jersey. A cold front moving in from the west late in the afternoon produced heavy thunderstorms with an environmental MUCAPE of 2000-3000 J/kg and PWAT values of 1.7-1.8 inches. These slow moving thunderstorms produce rainfall rates of 1-3 inches per hour over New Jersey with total rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches. This resulted in widespread flash flooding during the evening of August 18th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.7900, -74.2000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1213867. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.