First Alert Weather: Timing of New Jersey rivers cresting and flooding concerns
NEW YORK - River flooding is both ongoing and anticipated at a handful of locations across northern New Jersey.
The concerns are great because of the volume of rainfall New Jersey has seen recently, including Tuesday night's deluge.
Most of them had started to recede by Wednesday night, except the Passaic. A slow rise will continue through Thursday and cresting late Thursday/early Friday.
The Hackensack River at Rivervale is currently in minor flood stage, holding steady.
The Hackensack River at New Milford has crested and is near flood stage.
The Saddle River at Lodi has dropped below flood stage.
The Pompton River at Pompton Plains has crested and is currently still at major flood stage.
The Ramapo River at Mahwah has crested and is currently at moderate flood stage.
The Passaic River at Little Falls is currently at minor flood stage. It's forecast to rise to major flood stage Thursday night, cresting, then it will likely maintain near major status through Saturday due to Friday night's additional rain.
The Passaic River at Pine Brook breached moderate flood stage Wednesday evening. It's forecast to rise to major flood stage Thursday night, then it will likely maintain near-major status through Saturday due to Friday night's additional rain.
A second punch of rain Friday will unfortunately keep the rivers swollen near moderate to major flood stage.
Why do rivers reach flood stage at different times?
The Passaic River, as expected, will respond to Tuesday night's rainfall over the next several days, versus immediately, like its tributaries.
Tributaries, which are farther upstream, are the rivers that "empty" themselves into a larger river, which in this case is the Passaic River. And because the Passaic River is kind of the last stop within this particular river system, it's the last to absorb the overall impact of a rain event like the one that was observed Tuesday night.