Flash flooding hit parts of the US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Thursday after repeated storms dumped heavy rain across the region, triggering water rescues in New Jersey and flooding near Newark Liberty International Airport. More storms were expected into early Friday morning, some potentially severe with damaging wind gusts and perhaps a tornado, while additional rainfall could raise the flood risk in areas already saturated by Thursday’s rain.
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Severe storm risk continues into Friday
Northeastern Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Baltimore and northern Virginia were included in a Level 2 of 5 severe-storm risk zone. The severe-weather threat was expected to ease by midnight as the strongest storms weakened, reducing the risk of damaging wind gusts, isolated hail and tornadoes, although rain could continue into early Friday morning.
Areas farther east could see another spell of showers and thunderstorms on Friday, extending from southern New England to parts of Delaware and Maryland. While those storms were not expected to pose a significant flooding threat, the risk could increase if they passed over areas already soaked by Thursday’s downpours, news agency Cable News Network reported.
Thursday’s rainfall was expected to reach about 1 to 2 inches across much of the region, with considerably higher amounts possible where successive heavy storms passed over the same locations. Parts of New Jersey had already recorded such higher totals.
New Jersey gets up to 6 inches of rain
The concern over further rainfall followed flash flooding in parts of New Jersey on Thursday.
Southwestern New Jersey received 4 to 6 inches of rain during the afternoon as storms stalled over the area for just a few hours.
