Tropical Storm — Western Essex, New Jersey

2020-08-04 · Western Essex, New Jersey

Event narrative

A maximum sustained wind of 38 mph at 1228 pm LST, and peak wind gust of 52 mph at 1218 pm LST, were measured at the Caldwell Airport ASOS.

In addition, 1 to 2 inches of rainfall fell across the region during the morning and afternoon. These type of winds and heavy rain across the area resulted in numerous trees and tree limbs being downed, power outages, damages to homes and automobiles, and disruption to mass transit.

Wider weather episode

Category 1 Hurricane Isaias with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, made landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, NC at 11:10 pm on August 3rd. Isaias intensity weakened back to Tropical Storm strength as it forward speed increased to near 30 mph early morning of August 4th.

The center of Isaias passed about 65 miles west of New York City at 3 pm on August 4, 2020, with tropical storm force winds east of the center of circulation. The highest sustained wind speeds across northeastern New Jersey ranged from 35 to 50 mph, with gusts 60 to 70 mph, resulting in widespread wind damage and power outages. Rainfall amounts of 1/2 to 4 inches were observed across northeastern NJ, resulting in some localized flooding issues.

Two injuries resulted from high winds:

In Kearny, Hudson County NJ, one person was injured as a tree fell on there car on Schulyer Avenue

In Little Ferry, Bergen County, NJ one person and a dog were injured when struck by a falling tree

Preliminary damage cost estimates are:

Gov. Phil Murphy has sent the White House a request for just under $34.2 million in recovery funds for parts of the state hit hardest by the storm

The number of power outages state wide peaked around 1.4 million on August 4-5th, with many outages extending for days. In addition, multiple disruptions to mass transit and road closures due to downed power lines and trees were noted, with numerous water systems having to move to alternate power. Because of all the damage, the state had to open 13 debris management sites.

The state lost around xx percent of their tree population.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 923996. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.