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.”
Months after the mayor of Lumberton, New Jersey, was arrested after allegedly driving drunk with her son in the car, a grand jury indicted her on charges of not protecting her child, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Police in Lumberton had responded to the home of Lumberton Mayor Gina LaPlaca after a concerned resident called 9-1-1 to report that she was driving erratically on March 17, 2025.
According to police, the incident happened at about 6:11 p.m. after law enforcement officials were sent a video that allegedly showed a vehicle swerving out of lanes while driving and, at one point, nearly hitting a utility pole.
Court documents claim that in an interview with police, LaPlaca admitted that she had been drinking and said she drove the vehicle to pick up her son from daycare.
Also, according to court documents, officers administered a field sobriety test and LaPlaca “appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offense.”
During a search of LaPlaca’s car, officers reported finding an open container of alcohol.
LaPlaca was charged with drunk driving, endangering the welfare of a child, child abuse and other related charges.
The Mayor is expected to be arraigned on Dec. 8, 2025.
A blast of Arctic air is set to freeze New Jersey Thursday, bringing with it snow and the potential for dangerous snow squalls, according to the latest forecast.
The cold front moves through the state Thursday and could bring some snow showers along and north of I-80, National Weather Service forecasters said.
“While this should generally be not impactful, the snow squall parameter is not zero, so a few squalls reaching the far northern part of our area cannot be ruled out,” the National Weather Service said.
Find out what’s happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Squalls can cause conditions to change suddenly, creating danger for those on the road.
“Major highways and secondary roads can be coated in snow, and visibility can be drastically reduced in a matter of seconds, creating slippery and dangerous driving conditions,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Duffus said. The best option is to avoid driving during squalls; otherwise, it’s recommended to leave the highway and wait for squalls to pass.
Find out what’s happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The rest of the state will see brisk winds and frigid temperatures.
By daybreak Friday, it should start to snow. However, the snow will be light and focus more on the southern portion of the state. Those along the coast will see a mix or just rain, forecasters said. There will be a sharp cut-off for precipitation, according to the National Weather Service, which looks to be along I-195. Most snow accumulations will remain south of that, though there is not a lot expected.
“By Friday night, the low will quickly depart and move into the western Atlantic causing most precipitation to cease,” National Weather Service forecasters said. “However, some isolated areas of light snow or rain may linger into Friday night, especially for areas near the coast.”
Temperatures will warm slightly for the weekend, but still remain below normal.
By the middle of next week, a clipper-style storm may bring some snow again to New Jersey.
Here’s the latest forecast.
North Jersey
Thursday: A slight chance of snow showers before 3 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 36. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 12. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming light north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.
Friday: A slight chance of snow after 1 p.m. Increasing clouds, with a high near 27. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
Friday Night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 37. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 23.
Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 37.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 26
Central Jersey
Thursday: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 39. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 17. North wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday: A chance of snow after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Friday Night: A chance of snow before 10 p.m., then a chance of snow and freezing rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 41. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 25.
Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 42.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 31.
South Jersey
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 41. West wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light north after midnight.
Friday: A chance of snow, mainly after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Friday Night: A chance of snow before 10 p.m., then a chance of snow and freezing rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 42. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 25.
Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 44.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 32.
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