{"id":7370,"date":"2016-01-20T02:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=7370"},"modified":"2016-01-20T03:19:22","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T08:19:22","slug":"in-a-noreaster-what-constitutes-major-flooding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2016\/01\/in-a-noreaster-what-constitutes-major-flooding\/","title":{"rendered":"In a Nor’Easter, What Constitutes ‘Major’ Coastal Flooding?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Barrier<\/a>

Barrier island flooding in Ocean County during the Oct. 2015 nor\u2019easter. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Meteorologists are warning that coastal flooding during a potential nor\u2019easter this coming weekend may range from moderate to major. But what delineates a \u201cmajor\u201d flooding threat from a \u201cmoderate\u201d flooding threat?<\/p>\n

According to the National Weather Service, the three categories of tidal flooding threats \u2013 minor, moderate and major \u2013 are not based on specific storm surge levels, but the actual risk involved in a weather event. In a minor threat, \u201cthe majority of roads remain passable,\u201d a document from the NWS\u2019s office in Mount Holly says. \u201cThere is no significant threat to life. Any impact on property is minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a threat is moderate, \u201cthere is widespread flooding of roadways due to high water and\/or wave action with many roads becoming impassable,\u201d the NWS states. \u201cLives may be at risk when people put themselves in harms way. Some damage to vulnerable structures may occur.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cmajor\u201d flooding event \u201cis severe enough to cause structural damage along with widespread flooding of roadways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some evacuations become necessary during a major flooding event, and \u201cvulnerable homes and businesses may be severely damaged or destroyed.\u201d Often, roads become impassable and some neighborhoods may be isolated. The flood waters become a danger to anyone who attempts to cross on foot or in a vehicle.<\/p>\n

In terms of storm surge, the NWS is currently predicting this weekend\u2019s nor\u2019easter will bring with it a surge of 2 to 5 feet, a significant event, but far less than the 8.8-foot surge that pummeled New Jersey during Superstorm Sandy.<\/p>\n

Chris Huch, a Community Resiliency Specialist at the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve in Tuckerton, said via social media this week that the highest surge recorded in New Jersey was during the Dec. 12, 1992 nor\u2019easter, which reached 9 feet. Sandy\u2019s 8.8-foot surge tied the Sept. 14, 1944 hurricane. Hurricane Gloria, in 1985, and the October 31, 1991 \u201cHalloween Storm\u201d both brought an 8.6 foot surge onshore, while the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 tied Hurricane Belle in 1976 with an 8.4 foot surge.<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service warned that, while predictions currently call for a 2-5 foot surge, there is the potential for a \u201cmajor\u201d event that could place a surge within the top five floods in Jersey Shore history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not yet saying this will happen, but we need to monitor that potential,\u201d forecasters with the Mount Holly office wrote in an advisory late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meteorologists are warning that coastal flooding during a potential nor\u2019easter this coming weekend may range from moderate to major. But what delineates a \u201cmajor\u201d flooding threat from a \u201cmoderate\u201d flooding threat? According to the National Weather Service, the three categories of tidal flooding threats \u2013 minor, moderate and major \u2013 are not based on specific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[24,987,435],"class_list":["post-7370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shore-environment","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-flooding","tag-noreaster"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_4393.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-1US","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}