New Jersey
Intense rain, severe thunderstorms expected to ramp up Sunday. Flood risk increases.
If you thought the amount of rain New Jersey has received so far this weekend was piddling, the next 24 hours could change that.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service said Saturday night that the Garden State is soon expected to face several rounds of downpours and strong thunderstorms.
Hurricane Ernesto has already led to intense rip currents and dangerous conditions throughout the East Coast including the Jersey Shore — where lifeguards in several towns were busy on rescues earlier in the day.
The worst of the weekend’s inclement weather is expected to start early Sunday morning and intensify in the afternoon.
“Probably around like 4 to 6 a.m. we’ll start seeing more activity … our main timing of concern is going to be primarily during the afternoon. That’s when the heavier activity and thunderstorms are most likely to occur. I’d say around 1 to 2 p.m. or later,” Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office, said Saturday on the phone at 9:18 p.m.
Thunderstorms and damaging winds threaten the entire state but the most significant impacts may be seen south of Trenton based on current weather projections, Staarmann said.
“So, we could see some trees down, power lines down, and possibly some power outages with that activity,” he added.
The National Weather Service on Saturday also said a day-long flood watch would begin from 2 a.m. on Sunday through Monday. The parts of northeast New Jersey that watch includes: Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Union, Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Union counties, according to an AccuWeather alert.
A flood warning is more urgent than a flood watch.National Weather Service
Ernesto made landfall early Saturday morning in Bermuda as a category 1 storm with top sustained winds of 85 mph.
On Saturday shortly after 9 p.m., Ernesto was “barely a hurricane” according to a national meteorologist.
The storm, which had dropped to sustaining winds at 75 mph, was located just northeast of Bermuda by about 100 miles at that time. It was expected to move towards the north and may barely clip Newfoundland early next week, experts said.
⚠️🌧️⛈️ Scattered showers persisting through this evening, increasing in intensity and coverage overnight and into Sunday. Localized flash flooding and damaging winds are possible on Sunday. A Flood Watch is in effect for portions of the area. #PAwx #NJwx #DEwx #MDwx pic.twitter.com/o1bdcMyNY7
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) August 17, 2024
In its latest forecast, the National Weather Service noted that rip currents continue to be a threat along the shore.
Punishing conditions on the coast have already prompted first responders to post red flags at Jersey Shore beach entrances. New York City officials announced beaches in Brooklyn and Queens would be closed to swimming and wading on Saturday and Sunday due to dangerous rip currents.
Staarmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that besides all of northern New Jersey being under a flood watch, Monmouth County was as well.
“What we’re expecting generally is a widespread half-of-an inch to one-inch of rain. But there could be localized heavier amounts of around 2 to 4 inches or more, which could lead to areas of flash flooding wherever those heavier rainfall amounts do occur,” he said.
As it stands, flooding could pose a danger farther south of the state depending on how the forecast evolves later Saturday night.
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said: “There can still be flash flooding of small streams and urban areas where it manages to pour for a couple of hours but that sort of condition would tend to be highly localized.”
“Dangerous heat is expected to continue across much of our region through today, with several record highs likely to be challenged again. High temperatures are forecast to peak into the low to mid 90s across most of the area,” the National Weather Service said Friday.
A Heat Advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. across the state except for Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties.
PHILADELPHIA – Philip McPherson II, a 37-year-old from Riverside, New Jersey, was sentenced Thursday, June 11, to 78 months in prison for his role in a 2022 plane crash in Lehigh County that killed a student pilot, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Sentencing and charges for fatal Lehigh Valley crash
What we know:
United States District Judge John M. Gallagher sentenced McPherson to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, a $4,300 special assessment, and $19,530 in restitution. Judge Gallagher also barred McPherson from working in the aviation industry.
McPherson pleaded guilty in October to involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obstruction of an administrative proceeding, and 40 counts of serving as an airman without a certificate.
The backstory:
Court filings show that on September 28, 2022, McPherson took off from Queen City Airport in Allentown as the pilot-in-command with student pilot K.K. and crashed shortly after, resulting in K.K.’s death.
Prosecutors said McPherson acted with gross negligence, knowing he was not competent to fly as pilot-in-command. He had two prior crashes, nearly a third, and failed a reexamination for his pilot’s certificate in September 2021.
McPherson voluntarily surrendered his pilot’s certificate in October 2021 and let his Temporary Airman Certificate expire in November 2021, acknowledging his inability to meet FAA standards.
He admitted to flying with passengers without a valid FAA pilot’s certificate between October 12, 2021, and September 20, 2022.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, FAA, and Salisbury Township Police Department worked on the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Schopf and Special Assistant United States Attorney Marie Miller.
What we don’t know:
Authorities have not released further details about the circumstances leading up to the crash.
The Source: Information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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On Sunday, June 14, a bell will ring at the Historic Olde Courthouse in Mount Holly, New Jersey, as part of a festival to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
In the summer of 1776, officials rang the same bell at the courthouse in Burlington City, the seat of Burlington County at the time, after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The bell was moved to Mount Holly in 1796 when that city became the Burlington County seat.
Marisa Bozarth, Burlington County’s museum curator of history, said courthouse bells were rung in the 1700s to signify that something important was taking place.
“They would have rung it when there was a large court case of any significance, when the jury was coming back, so people knew to return to the courthouse to hear the verdict,” she said. “The bell was also rung any time there was any public reading of any sort of important document. It was their way to get the information out to the masses quickly.”
After the wording of the Declaration of Independence was finalized and the document was signed, every state received a copy so it could be shared with the people living there. At the time, some Burlington County residents wanted to remain loyal to Britain, while others supported the movement for independence, Bozarth said.
“I would think it was a bit of a scary time because when the Declaration of Independence was finally signed and then presented, it meant we were really going to war,” she said. “We were declaring our independence, but we weren’t officially an independent nation yet. It meant a scary time was coming because Britain wasn’t going to accept that and just let us walk away.”
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