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.

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.

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.”