New Jersey
What New York Can Do to Survive Flooding
New York is experiencing extreme rainfall events with increasing frequency and intensity, according to a 2024 study in Nature.
Since 1970, the city’s stormwater system has been built to handle up to 1.75 inches of rain per hour. Hourly precipitation recorded by Central Park’s rain gauge didn’t exceed this limit until 1995. It’s been eclipsed in three of the last five years.
Annual maximum hourly rainfall at Central Park
One major problem is how little of that rainfall is absorbed or stored before reaching the stormwater system. A whole suite of solutions focuses on building and expanding the city’s capacity to do so.
Understanding New York’s historical environment is crucial to imagining a more resilient urban future, one based on the city’s past topography, according to Eric Sanderson, a landscape ecologist and vice president for Urban Conservation Strategy at the New York Botanical Garden and the author of “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City.”
“I was trying to imagine a configuration of the landscape that could work with the understanding of climate change at the time,” Sanderson said of his book. “Part of that is restoring streams, wetlands and agricultural lands, connecting the urbanized parts of the city, and depaving a lot of what we have.”
He and a team of researchers have spent years reconstructing the past ecological landscape of the city, producing data that they hope will inform its future.
Embracing absorption could allow the city to restore those natural features, allowing floodwater places to drain.
Rain gardens, curbside planted pits designed to siphon water away from drainage systems, and permeable pavement are already turning streets and sidewalks into sponges. And as part of its Cloudburst program, the city is designing parks and public spaces to flood intentionally, enhancing their innate ability to act as natural catch basins. The first to be completed, a basketball court in South Jamaica, Queens, recently opened.
But these initiatives are in their infancy. Only a handful of Cloudburst sites have been identified, and the need is most likely far greater: Sanderson and his team mapped out 540 potential locations.
Policymakers have offered several incentives to private property owners, making it easier for real estate developers to install green infrastructure. Similarly, waterfront properties above a certain size are now required to provide stormwater solutions.
Sewer and storage upgrades are also on the table. In Gowanus, Brooklyn, Department of Environmental Protection engineers recently installed an eight-million-gallon underground tank at an artificial canal, redirecting water that would otherwise flood the space. The agency is planning another tank, and once it is complete, a new public park will sit on top of it.
Then there’s daylighting, in which onetime waterways, covered by buildings, pavement and landfill, are unearthed and restored, allowing floodwater to go elsewhere.
A project at Tibbetts Brook in the Bronx will test the concept. Concrete and other artificial materials will be removed to reroute water aboveground and into a dedicated underground pipe, reducing sewer overflow that ends up in the Harlem River.
A more dramatic example of leveraging the city’s natural landscape is the successful Bluebelt project in Staten Island, which strings together streams, ponds and wetlands — some natural, some engineered. It has already reduced flooding in parts of the borough.
But for greater effect, the city will have to rapidly expand this work to feasible locations. “Our imaginations have not caught up to what nature can and will do,” Sanderson said.
On a recent tour of the Staten Island Bluebelts, Rohit Aggarwala, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency had listed 86 “priority areas” citywide for flood mitigation. “We’re asking, ‘What is the solution for this specific place?’” he said.
That work has its hurdles, though, and not every part of the city is as spacious as Staten Island. A major overhaul of local sewer capacity in Bushwick, Brooklyn, for example, will cost $390 million and take years. Expect disruption, Aggarwala said: “The residents will be less happy when they find out how long Knickerbocker Avenue will have to be ripped up.”
But for too long, he added, the city’s work was not focused enough on the future: “We have to build for 2075, not 1975.”
Filming Big Mistakes in New Jersey was no mistake at all.
The Netflix comedy series, which debuted earlier this month, has already hit the streaming service’s Global Top 10 English TV List, making it one of the most-watched shows out right now.
As per Netflix, the comedy series co-created, executive produced, written and starring Emmy winner Dan Levy, follows Nicky (Levy) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), two deeply incapable siblings who are in over their heads when a misguided theft for their dying grandmother accidentally pulls them into the world of organized crime. Blackmailed into increasingly dangerous assignments, they clumsily fail upwards, sinking deeper into chaos they’re ill-equipped to handle. The dark comedy, which has only eight episodes, has a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes so far.
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Set in the fictional New Jersey suburb of Glenview, the series was fittingly filmed primarily in numerous towns and cities in New Jersey, including Caldwell, Cranford, Franklin Lakes, Irvington, Jersey City, Union, Warren and Weehawken for a total of 40 filming locations. (The cartel storyline in Episode 7 was shot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where its coastline and architecture doubled as Miami’s waterfront, luxury estates and yacht life.)
“I’ve really enjoyed shooting in New Jersey,” location manager Mia Thompson said. “We have quite a number of recurring locations that have all just been wonderful—not only the home owners, but the business owners, the towns, the local police, the local fire departments, the town clerks. It’s been a really great experience.”
More than 300 cast and crew and 500 vendors took part in the production. Ortega, who plays Morgan, is actually a New Jersey native and was surprised to film in her backyard.
“It was surreal getting to film in my home state,” she said. “I grew up in New Jersey and was obsessed with film and television and never thought I’d be returning home for such a major project and moment in my life.”
The show filmed the scenes at Morelli’s Hardware, run by Nicky and Morgan’s mom (Laurie Metcalf), at Edison Millwork & Hardware, a more than 50-year-old, family-owned hardware store in Edison.
“It’s one of the few mom and pop hardware stores that are left anywhere, really, so it was really great to find this location that fits very perfectly with our story,” Thompson said.
The show was also filmed at Wyoming Presbyterian Church in Millburn—the backdrop for Nicky’s day job as a pastor and his living space.
“We’ve utilized every inch of space of that church inside and out,” said Thompson. “They’ve enjoyed the experience just as much as we have.”
Other spots they filmed at include Deerfield School, Essex County Airport, Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, Hatfield Swamp, Springfield Municipal Building and the Crystal Inn in Eatontown.
“One thing about New Jersey is that it’s so diverse. The various neighborhoods offer different kinds of looks and aesthetics,” said Thompson. “You have everything that you could ask for.”
See Jersey in all eight episodes, streaming now on Netflix.
Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band tour rehearsal in Ocean Grove
Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band March 26, 2026 Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour rehearsal at the Ocean Grove Youth Center in Ocean Grove.
There will be No Kings at the Monday, April 20 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show at the Prudential Center in Newark but the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey will be there.
The group will be the “featured organization” for the New Jersey stop of the band’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.
“We’re honored to have the opportunity to work with New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen to advocate for the rights and freedoms that all people deserve,” said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha in statement. “This moment requires all of us, and we are grateful to Bruce, who is using his platform to fight against authoritarianism and for our rights. We share a love for New Jersey and a desire to make the Garden State safer and freer for everyone who calls it home. Our team is thrilled to connect with everyone who shares our mission to protect and defend civil liberties, and who knows the power that art and music have to change the world.”
Springsteen said the American Dream is under attack by “our wannabe king and his rogue government” when he announced the tour on Feb. 17. Promotional posters for the tour features the phrase “No Kings,” a reflection of the national anti-President Donald Trump protests that have taken place in the last year.
The tour kickoff was March 31 at the Target Center in Minneapolis and it included 27 songs over three hours. The show also featured some direct talk from Springsteen on the state of the country. The setlist included the newly composed “Streets of Minneapolis,” written after the fatal shooting by federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti of Minneapolis in January.
ACLU-NJ representatives will be at the Prudential Center to talk to concertgoers about its work. The American Civil Liberties Union previously released an ad with the Springsteen classic “Born in the U.S.A.” featured on the eve of the Supreme Court case where the ACLU is challenging the President Trump’s executive order attempting to overturn the current interpretation of 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to those born in the U.S. regardless of their parents’ legal status.
Visit www.aclu-nj.org for more info on the ACLU-NJ.
Subscribe to app.com for the latest on the New Jersey music scene.
Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com
New Jersey
NJ Lottery Pick-3, Pick-4, Cash 5, Millionaire for Life winning numbers for Sunday, April 19
The New Jersey Lottery offers multiple draw games for people looking to strike it rich.
Here’s a look at April 19, 2026, results for each game:
Pick-3
Midday: 8-7-3, Fireball: 9
Evening: 5-0-8, Fireball: 0
Check Pick-3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Pick-4
Midday: 4-7-7-9, Fireball: 9
Evening: 5-9-7-8, Fireball: 0
Check Pick-4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Jersey Cash 5
20-25-35-38-45, Xtra: 35
Check Jersey Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Millionaire for Life
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Quick Draw
Drawings are held every four minutes. Check winning numbers here.
Cash Pop
Drawings are held every four minutes. Check winning numbers here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the New Jersey Lottery drawings held?
- Pick-3: 12:59 p.m. and 10:57 p.m. daily.
- Pick-4: 12:59 p.m. and 10:57 p.m. daily.
- Jersey Cash 5: 10:57 p.m. daily.
- Pick-6: 10:57 p.m. Monday and Thursday.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a New Jersey Sr Breaking News Editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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