Coastal Flood — Eastern Essex, New Jersey

2012-10-29 to 2012-10-30 · Eastern Essex, New Jersey

Event narrative

Widespread major coastal flooding occurred along Newark Bay, with moderate coastal flooding along the Passaic River, as peak storm tides in New York Harbor surpassed all previously documented high water marks, including the October 31, 1991 and December 11, 1992 nor'easters and the recorded peak from Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Up to 3 to 6 feet of inundation was experienced across the Newark Port System along Newark Bay. The inundation generally extended about 2 miles inland past the New Jersey Turnpike to US 1 & 9, while a few feet of inundation occurred 12 miles inland along the Passaic River.

This inundation caused major damage to the Newark Port System, which was disrupted for a week to repair road and rail ways, hundreds of displaced shipping containers, damaged electrical systems and other port cargo. Also, over 10,000 cars were destroyed in the Elizabeth and Newark Port System from the salt water inundation.

As high tide approached around 8 pm, the Passaic River inundated the East Ward of Newark, with streets like South and Raymond Boulevard becoming virtually impassable even to heavy-duty fire vehicles. Huge pools of deep water formed near Penn Station. Near Newark Liberty International Airport, Corbin Street and other access roads were under several inches to a few feet of water by 8 pm. At least five feet of water on the eastern end of Raymond Boulevard and elsewhere in the Ironbound area around 11 pm made it impossible for firefighers to immediately reach residents living near the Passaic River trapped in their homes by rising floodwater. The waters finally began to recede by about midnight.

As waters receded after midnight, firefighters were able to make additional rescues in the East Ward. Around 2:30 am, two people were pulled from their flooded Waydell Aveune home. Six workers were rescued around 3 am from the trailer where they took refuge from the flooding at 155 Raymond Boulevard. Repeated attempts to reach the men failed before firefighters were able to surmount the high water in a sanitation department dump truck.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. After drifting slowly southwest on October 23, Sandy turned to the north and intensified to a hurricane on October 24, just before making landfall in Jamaica. Hurricane Sandy continued to the north and intensified to a strong category two hurricane before making landfall again in Cuba shortly after Midnight EDT on the 25th. Hurricane Sandy emerged on the other side of Cuba during the morning of the 25th and proceeded to drift northwest as a category one or two hurricane as it moved through the Bahamas on the 25th and 26th. Overnight on the 26th, Hurricane Sandy (Category 1) started to move toward the north northeast, a motion that continued into the evening of the 28th. From there, Sandy's motion became driven by two factors. An anomalously strong blocking ridge over the Canadian Maritimes prevented Sandy from escaping to the east. Simultaneously, an approaching and deepening extratropical trough was about to capture Sandy. The combination of the two, turned Sandy to the north overnight on the 28th and then to the northwest on the 29th.

As Sandy continued to move northwest and interact with the mid latitude trough, its interaction continued to make it less tropical, but did not weaken it much. Sandy continued to make a harder turn to the left (west) and made landfall in Atlantic County as a post tropical storm in Brigantine City just north of Atlantic City at 7:30 p.m. EDT on the 29th. The estimated minimum central pressure was 945 millibars. The lowest recorded central pressure was 945.6 millibars at the Atlantic City Marina at 7:34 p.m. EDT.

Record breaking high tides and wave action was combined with sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph and wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph.

These extreme conditions resulted in at least 12 deaths across Northeast NJ and widespread property damage. The New Jersey State Governor estimated property damage at 29.4 billion dollars for the State.

Emergency managers recommended mandatory evacuations of people living along the coasts and rivers of mainly Union, Essex, and Hudson Counties. Widespread significant power outages of more than 1 million lasted up to 2 weeks.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 421666. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.