Westfield Removing 50 Abandoned Cars Amid Floods

UNION COUNTY, NJ — The town of Westfield advised residents Thursday morning to stay home after Tropical Depression Ida brought flash flooding and unprecedented rain. "Our first responders are currently removing more than 50 abandoned cars from the town's roadways as flood waters subside," said an alert.

[UPDATE: Three people were rescued from the roof of a school in Westfield, and a resident suffered a head injury when a tree crashed into their house. Read more here.]

The town wrote:

A State of Emergency remains in place throughout New Jersey, and residents are asked to continue to avoid all unnecessary travel. Our first responders are currently removing more than 50 abandoned cars from the Town's roadways as flood waters subside.

Town Hall is open with limited in-person staffing, with many non-essential employees working remotely.

Memorial Pool is currently closed as the staff assesses the facility's conditions.

The Conservation Center is also closed so that our Public Works crews can focus on post-storm assessments throughout Town.

Due to the State of Emergency, Grand Sanitation cannot pick up recycling today. Zone 4 will instead be picked up on Friday, and Zone 5 will be collected on Saturday.

Wednesday night around 8:30 p.m., the town sent an alert: "Please stay in your homes — there is severe localized flooding in Westfield and there is a Tornado Watch in effect."

New Jersey was recovering Thursday morning from flash floods around the state that dumped as much as 10 inches of rain in some areas.

Prior Coverage

A tornado watch was issued for Union County through 1 a.m. Thursday as heavy rain moves through the area. See all current watches and warnings here. The area remains under a flash flood watch through Thursday at 2 p.m.

A new briefing from the National Weather Service on Wednesday morning put Union County and the rest of North Jersey in a "high risk" area for excessive rainfall due to Tropical Depression Ida. See the briefing here. The designation means there's a high risk of "severe, widespread flash flooding" potentially including areas that don't normally flood.

The area is now under a flash flood watch from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 2 p.m. Thursday. See the watches and warnings for the area here.

"Deep tropical moisture will interact with a nearly stationary frontal boundary across the Middle Atlantic and Northeast to produce heavy rainfall Wednesday morning through Thursday morning," the NWS says. "A widespread 3 to 5 inches of rain is forecast with locally higher amounts likely. This rainfall combined with wet antecedent conditions likely lead to flash flooding. Flooding of fast responding rivers and streams is likely, with flooding of main stem rivers possible."

While some may consider flash floods just an inconvenience, these floods have proved fatal to drivers (sometimes trapping parents and children in their cars as water rises) and to children playing near small streams.

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• See New Jersey in the forecast cone for Ida here.
• See the flash flood potential on this map.

The forecast for the area says:

Wednesday: Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 11am. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. High near 73. East wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.

Wednesday Night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. Low around 64. Northeast wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. New precipitation amounts between 3 and 4 inches possible.

Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers before 11am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 74. North wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North wind around 9 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

• See the potential rainfall map here.

Severe storms are becoming more frequent. In fact, Hurricane Elsa in July 2021 was the earliest E-named storm in modern weather history.

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