Heavy Rains Submerge Cranford Streets, Lawns

UPDATE: The Rahway River is currently at 8.01 feet according to USGS river studies. NWS' flood level is 5.5 feet. The Cranford Police Department has issued a voluntary evacuation for residents along the Rahway River. A temporary shelter has been set up at Orange Avenue School. Fire department has requested additional personnel to work flood detail. The Cranford Department of Public Works is backed up with basement flooding and other similar calls.

Two days of straight rain and heavy winds have some Cranford roads and lawns resting underwater.

Mark Schwartz of South Union Avenue photographed an abandoned vehicle sitting partially submerged Saturday on South Union and James avenues.

"If it wasn't for the car stuck in the middle of the street I could totally look out the front of my house and think I was living on a canal," he said.

Residents have reported having to move their vehicles to higher ground in the Riverside area. Some Cranford homes have about a foot of water in them, according to fire department communications. Cranford Patch freelancer Patrick Sullivan helped placed sandbags down around his mother's home on Riverside Drive. One resident filmed the rising water at Casino Avenue at 2:30 p.m. Click here to watch.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch and high wind warning for the Union County area until Sunday. The slow moving storm is expected to dump two to four inches of rain by Sunday morning. Residents should expect street, yard and possible basement flooding, along with potential power outages due to the heavy winds with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour possible.

As of 6 p.m., travel was temporarily suspended on the Raritan Valley NJ Transit line due to weather-related issues.

For up-to-the-minute road reports, go here.

NWS river height gauges note the Rahway River at 4.85 feet in Springfield at 4:15 p.m. Flood stage is marked at 5.5-feet. There are no such readings for the Cranford portion of the river.

The service warns motorists not to drive on flooded roads.

In cases of severe flooding, the Cranford Police Department will place barricades over the flood streets and station auxiliary police to block motorists from driving through the water.

See a flooded area in Cranford? Take a photo and send to whitney@patch.com.