North Jersey Towns, Already Swamped, Brace for More Heavy Rain

Several New Jersey communities were bracing on Friday for more rain and flooding after a winter storm earlier in the week caused several rivers in the northern part of the state to overflow.

North Jersey was predicted to get up to 1.5 inches of rain Friday night, adding to the residual flooding still lingering in the area, the National Weather Service said. Some areas along the Passaic and Raritan Rivers remained underwater after the heavy rains on Tuesday. Even in places where flooding had receded, the ground was still saturated, the Weather Service said.

On Friday afternoon, Gov. Phil Murphy warned residents of the affected areas that the Passaic River was already “well above flood level” and expected to rise another one to two feet by Sunday. In messages posted online, Mr. Murphy urged residents to follow local officials’ guidance and to avoid driving Friday night.

Inspecting flood damage in Little Falls in Passaic County on Thursday, Mr. Murphy said at a news conference that more needed to be done to address the chronic flooding that plagues many New Jersey towns.

“This is the third event in the past three weeks, and we’ve got another one Friday night,” he said at a news conference.

The governor declared a state of emergency on Tuesday that remained in effect going into the weekend, according to the Murphy administration. No injuries or deaths had been reported as a result of the storm and its aftermath by Thursday afternoon, but there was significant flooding in several communities and multiple school districts had closed in response, the administration said.

The American Red Cross was operating shelters in Little Falls and Paterson, which is also in Passaic County, for anyone forced from their homes by flooding, said John Bartlett, the director of the county’s Board of Commissioners.

“Residents in our flood prone areas are resilient, but they’re getting frustrated,” Mr. Bartlett said in a statement. “After a wet fall came the snow, then last week’s torrential rains, and now rain is forecast again tonight and tomorrow and it’s like, ‘Ugh! Again?’”