FloodingThe National Weather Ser­vice has now issued a Coastal Flood Warn­ing for the Bor­ough of Stone Harbor and sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties.  The flood warn­ing is now in effect until 5:00pm on Thurs­day, Octo­ber 10th.  There is the lik­li­hood of wide­spread minor coastal flood­ing with the poten­tial for mod­er­ate coastal flood­ing in flood prone areas.  Res­i­dents who live in areas that typ­i­cally flood are advised to move their vehi­cles out of the street and away from flood prone areas.

A per­sis­tent coastal storm will con­tinue to bring gusty winds, rain, and coastal flood­ing to our region today.  The storm has caused some power out­ages in our com­mu­nity dur­ing the morn­ing hours and pond­ing of water in some streets has occured.  If the early after­noon high tide event coin­cides with heavy rain­fall, flood­ing issues could become aggra­vated.  Beach ero­sion has also been expe­ri­enced in some coastal communities.

One traf­fic note: The Avalon Police Depart­ment con­tin­ues to close Ocean Drive towards the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge due to wave over­wash onto the road­way. Please take an alter­nate route.

High tides: High tide is fore­cast at the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge between Avalon and Sea Isle City on Thurs­day at 12:37pm, and again on Fri­day at 1:08am and 1:42pm. High tide is fore­cast at Stone Harbor/Great Chan­nel on Thurs­day at 1:04pm, and again on Fri­day at 1:35am and 2:09pm. The Thurs­day mid­day high tide may bring the most severe flood­ing to our region dur­ing this coastal storm event.

Here is the text of the Coastal Flood Warn­ing issued by the National Weather Service:

Coastal Flood Warn­ing in effect until 5 PM EDT this afternoon…

The National Weather Ser­vice in Mount Holly has issued a coastal Flood Warn­ing… which is in effect until 5 PM EDT this after­noon. The coastal Flood Advi­sory is no longer in effect.

* Loca­tion… the south­ern New Jer­sey and Delaware coasts… as well as the lower Delaware Bay.

* Coastal flood­ing… mod­er­ate coastal flood­ing is antic­i­pated around this afternoon’s high tide.

* At Cape May, New Jer­sey (ocean­front), high tide occurs at 114 PM, with a fore­cast tide level of 7.5 to 8.0 feet above mean lower low water.

* High tide on the back bays and along the Delaware Bay occurs later than the high tide on the oceanfront.

* Seas… wave heights on the ocean waters will be 6 to 10 feet. Wave heights on the Delaware Bay will be 3 to 6 feet.

* Impacts… numer­ous road­ways will flood and minor to mod­er­ate prop­erty dam­age is pos­si­ble. The Tides and wave action will result in mod­er­ate beach ero­sion. Heavy rain may also fall around the time of high tide adding to the increase in water lev­els. A major­ity of the mod­er­ate flood­ing will take place in and along the Delaware Bay.

* Out­look… minor tidal flood­ing is also pos­si­ble dur­ing the sec­ond half of the day high tide cycle on Fri­day. Minor tidal flood­ing might also occur on Sat­ur­day and Sunday.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A coastal Flood Warn­ing indi­cates that mod­er­ate or major tidal flood­ing is immi­nent or occur­ring. Be pre­pared for ris­ing water lev­els and take appro­pri­ate action to pro­tect life and prop­erty. Fol­low the rec­om­men­da­tions of local emer­gency man­age­ment officials.

Do not drive your vehi­cle through flood waters. The water may be deeper than you think. You will be putting your­self in dan­ger and your vehi­cle may be dam­aged… lead­ing to costly repairs.