Southern New Jersey is bracing for a dangerous stretch of weather after officials issued a severe thunderstorm watch covering six counties, warning residents of destructive wind gusts and torrential rainfall capable of triggering sudden flash floods.
According to the National Weather Service, the alert was put into effect Thursday afternoon and will remain active until 10 p.m., covering Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties. Meteorologists say the combination of elevated afternoon heat and thick humidity is expected to act as fuel, strengthening storm systems as they push into the region from neighboring Pennsylvania.
Officials caution that wind speeds during the storms could climb as high as 70 mph — strong enough to snap trees and knock down power lines, particularly in communities still recovering from outages caused by last weekend’s rough weather.
Adding to the concern, a separate flood watch has been put in place across 12 counties spanning central and southern New Jersey, with forecasters warning of a heightened risk of fast-developing flash floods. Several flash flood warnings have already been activated Thursday as slow-moving storm cells continue dumping heavy rain over parts of the state.
The National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office says the flooding in some locations could turn “dangerous and life-threatening,” especially for motorists and pedestrians who attempt to cross roads where water levels are rising rapidly.
Forecasters are warning that rainfall intensity could reach 2 to 3 inches per hour during the peak of the storms — a rate officials say is capable of overwhelming roadways and highways almost instantly. The concern is even greater in areas that were already saturated earlier in the week, when a separate storm system dropped several inches of rain in a short window on Monday, triggering flash flooding across multiple counties.
Officials note that Burlington, Camden, Monmouth, and Ocean counties bore the brunt of Monday’s flooding, and authorities are urging residents in those same areas to remain especially alert as Thursday’s storms move through.