Nor'easter Promises More Wind and Flooding for Wednesday

A little more than a week after a massive coastal storm made a direct hit on New Jersey, a second storm will bring a new round of wind, rain and flooding on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service issued high wind and coastal flooding warnings on Tuesday — predicting wind gusts up to 60 mph, heavy rain and moderate flooding peaking on Wednesday afternoon and evening (Nov. 7).

The forecast predicts Wednesday will start with rain and northeast winds of 29 to 34 mph. Sustained winds will increase in the afternoon to 36 to 41 mph with gusts as high as 55 mph, according to the forecast. 

Wind and rain will peak on Wednesday night with gusts as high as 60 mph. The storm will taper off on Thursday with rain still possible on Thursday morning.

High temperature during the storm is expected to be 46 degrees on Wednesday in Ocean City.

The coastal flood warning is in effect from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 a.m. Thursday for Ocean City and the nearby coastline. High tides at the Ninth Street Bridge in Ocean City will be 1:42 p.m. Wednesday, then 2:34 a.m. early Thursday morning. Residents in flood-prone areas will want to consider moving their vehicles to high ground.

Forecasters suggest the water may not recede much between the two high tides. But water levels are not expected to be nearly as high as during the record storm last week.

The high wind warning suggests the strongest winds will be along the coast starting Wednesday afternoon and stretching into the evening.

"This is a particularly dangerous situation, especially for the areas that were hardest hit by the storm last week," according to the NWS warning. "Structures and trees weakened by the storm last week may be further damaged by another round of high winds. This can also result in renewed power outages."

Ocean City Public Works Crews have been racing to clear debris from streets, clear storm drains and move sand to create temporary berms where dune systems were wiped out by the hybrid of Hurricane Sandy and a winter storm that made landfall near Ocean City on Oct. 29.