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Alert Pulse · New Jersey · Monthly report · August 2026

Floods displaced students and a tornado touched down in New Jersey

August flooding entered homes, disrupted Rowan's move-in day and washed out a highway, according to university officials and news reports. Near Estell Manor, investigators found no damage definitively attributable to a brief tornado.

AUG 27 · 74AUG 1AUG 31DISTINCT WARNINGS PER DAY231

Each story below, on the day it peaked

  • Flash flooding · Aug 3

    the Mid-Atlantic

  • Flash flooding · Aug 27

    the Mid-Atlantic

  • Flash flooding · Aug 7

    New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York

  • Flash flooding · Aug 5–6

    New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York

  • Tornadoes and severe storms · Aug 20

    New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania

    A tornado was seen on the ground

    Named in the warnings: Estell Manor, Cape May, North Wildwood

Warnings identified flood and tornado hazards, but could not keep water out of homes or make flooded roads passable.

Read the month

Where the month happened

Each numbered area is one of the stories below, drawn over the counties its warnings covered.

Map of the area this edition covers. 1: Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 27. 2: Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 3. 3: Tornadoes and severe storms in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, Aug 20.123
  • Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 27
  • Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 3
  • Tornadoes and severe storms in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, Aug 20
Fig. 1. The counties each story covered, numbered as the report tells them. Colour groups the hazard: water, heat and fire, storms. Counties are the smallest area these warnings describe.
The same areas as a list
  • 1. Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, August 27 · Water · 20 counties drawn
  • 2. Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, August 3 · Water · 36 counties drawn
  • 3. Tornadoes and severe storms in the Mid-Atlantic, August 20 · Storms · 16 counties drawn
Figure 02

When it happened

Each square is one day of the month, shaded by how many warnings went out.Shade is warnings that day. A number is the story it belongs to on the map. A ring marks a day on which news or officials reported what the event did to people.
SunMonTueWedThuFriSatAug 1: 0 warnings1Aug 2: 3 warnings2Aug 3: 50 warnings · story 2 on the map · documented impact on people32Aug 4: 0 warnings4Aug 5: 16 warnings5Aug 6: 16 warnings6Aug 7: 66 warnings7Aug 8: 33 warnings8Aug 9: 2 warnings9Aug 10: 13 warnings10Aug 11: 10 warnings11Aug 12: 4 warnings12Aug 13: 1 warnings13Aug 14: 0 warnings14Aug 15: 0 warnings15Aug 16: 0 warnings16Aug 17: 4 warnings17Aug 18: 0 warnings18Aug 19: 1 warnings19Aug 20: 46 warnings · story 3 on the map · documented impact on people203Aug 21: 6 warnings21Aug 22: 0 warnings22Aug 23: 7 warnings23Aug 24: 0 warnings24Aug 25: 0 warnings25Aug 26: 2 warnings26Aug 27: 74 warnings · story 1 on the map · documented impact on people271Aug 28: 21 warnings28Aug 29: 0 warnings29Aug 30: 0 warnings30Aug 31: 0 warnings31
  • Fewer warnings
  • More warnings
  • Impact on people reported
View as a table
DayWarningsStory on the mapDocumented impact on people
Aug 10——
Aug 23——
Aug 3502Yes
Aug 40——
Aug 516——
Aug 616——
Aug 766——
Aug 833——
Aug 92——
Aug 1013——
Aug 1110——
Aug 124——
Aug 131——
Aug 140——
Aug 150——
Aug 160——
Aug 174——
Aug 180——
Aug 191——
Aug 20463Yes
Aug 216——
Aug 220——
Aug 237——
Aug 240——
Aug 250——
Aug 262——
Aug 27741Yes
Aug 2821——
Aug 290——
Aug 300——
Aug 310——

1Flooding displaced Rowan students and washed out Route 322 in Mullica Hill

  1. AUG 27, 11 AM EDT

    First warning

    New Castle County, Delaware

  2. AUG 27, 12 PM EDT

    Considerable threat

    Camden County, New Jersey

  3. AUG 28, 3 AM EDT

    Last warning

    Burlington County, New Jersey

Map of the area this edition covers. 1: Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 27.1
  • Flash flooding — coloured as water. 20 counties in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 27.

In Glassboro on August 27, floodwater broke through the basement doors of an off-campus home where Rowan students were living, within the flood area marked 1 on the map. “Door completely flies off right toward us. It was crazy. You can see how high the water got,” sophomore James Didomenico told 6abc Philadelphia.

The day's first flash flood warning went out for New Castle County, Delaware, at 11:38 a.m. By 12:41 p.m., a warning covering Camden County carried a considerable damage threat. The warnings identified the danger developing across the region, but do not establish when individual households received notice.

In Glassboro, flooding disrupted Rowan's move-in day and displaced some students, according to Rutgers University's New Jersey State Climate Office. It reported no displacement count. Gloucester County Emergency Management spokesperson Andrew Halter told CNN that rescuers carried out a large number of water rescues around Glassboro and Harrison Township that day.

The off-campus damage was distinct from conditions in university housing. Rowan said several campus buildings took on water that day; 6abc reported that water reached a residence hall lobby but no student rooms were damaged. The university told people to avoid flooded areas and buildings with water intrusion while police and facilities personnel addressed affected locations. Rowan remained open and said evening move-in activities would continue.

In Mullica Hill, part of Route 322 washed away during the flooding, leaving the road impassable, the state climate office reported. The last flood warning in Burlington County ended early the following morning. No deaths or injuries were reported in the coverage reviewed, including reports from Rowan, CNN, 6abc and the state climate office.

Flood alerts by the numbers: every published month, by state and county.

2Water entered Pennsauken homes as a driver needed rescue in Cherry Hill

  1. AUG 2, 11 PM EDT

    First warning

    Warren County, New Jersey

  2. AUG 3, 10 AM EDT

    Considerable threat

    Burlington County, New Jersey

  3. AUG 3, 5 PM EDT

    Last warning

    Burlington County, New Jersey

Map of the area this edition covers. 1: Flash flooding in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 3.1
  • Flash flooding — coloured as water. 36 counties in the Mid-Atlantic, Aug 3.

On Pennsauken's 44th Street on August 3, floodwater entered basements, residents told 6abc Philadelphia. Repeated downpours brought repeated water intrusion into homes.

The first flash flood warning had gone out for Warren County the night before. By 10:36 a.m., a warning covering Burlington County carried a considerable damage threat. The flooding affecting Pennsauken was part of the regional event marked 2 on the map.

Residents estimated that at least six homes on the street were affected that day, according to 6abc. Pennsauken resident Elisa McNair described the difficulty of getting ahead of the water: “Every time it downpoured it started back up again, so three times today it came on and never stopped”.

In Cherry Hill that day, police rescued a driver stranded in floodwater on Route 38, 6abc reported. The road reopened after street sweepers removed debris and crews cleared overwhelmed drains. Reopening depended on that work, not simply on the rain easing.

Farther north in Princeton, Quaker Road was closed until further notice because of flooding that day, Planet Princeton reported. The last flood warning in Burlington County ended at 5:15 p.m. No deaths or injuries were reported in the coverage reviewed, including reports from 6abc, Planet Princeton and the Bucks County Courier Times.

Flood alerts by the numbers: every published month, by state and county.

3A brief tornado touched down near Estell Manor

  1. AUG 20, 4 PM EDT

    First warning

    Atlantic County, New Jersey

  2. AUG 20, 7 PM EDT

    Tornado seen

    Cape May County, New Jersey

  3. AUG 20, 7 PM EDT

    Last warning

    Atlantic County, New Jersey

Map of the area this edition covers. 1: Tornadoes and severe storms in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, Aug 20.1
  • Tornadoes and severe storms — coloured as storms. 16 counties in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, Aug 20.

Near Estell Manor on August 20, a tornado briefly touched down in inaccessible woods or marsh, within the storm area marked 3 on the map. Investigators found no damage definitively attributable to it, Shore Local Newsmagazine reported. No deaths or injuries were reported in the coverage reviewed for this storm.

The first tornado warning went out for Atlantic County at 4:38 p.m. A weather service warning from Mount Holly described potential impacts: “Expect considerable tree damage. Damage is likely to mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.” That was a forecast of possible damage, not a finding about what the Estell Manor tornado left behind.

At 7:08 p.m., a tornado warning covering Cape May County identified an observed tornado rather than one indicated only by radar. Shore Local reported that a waterspout near North Cape May prompted a warning for nearby shore communities, but no subsequent reports indicated that it reached land or caused damage.

The wider storm also brought flooding to interior Atlantic and Cumberland counties that afternoon, the NJ Weather Network reported. Afternoon rainfall totals reached 4.95 inches at Mays Landing and 5.94 inches at Estell Manor.

In Ocean City that evening, storms drove people indoors from the boardwalk, though some visitors returned after conditions improved, 6abc Philadelphia reported. The manager of Manco & Manco Pizza told the station that the weather shortened the dinner rush and made deliveries difficult. In Atlantic County, the last severe thunderstorm warning ended at 7:50 p.m.

Tornado alerts by the numbers: every published month, by state and county.

How BePrepared monitors this, all year

This report exists because we already monitor the whole country. Every couple of minutes, around the clock, we read the emergency alerts going out across all fifty states and territories, and we keep them. A month of that record is what you have just read.

The national picture is the part most people never see. What matters to you is much smaller: which of these warnings would have reached your street, and what the risks around you look like on an ordinary day.

That is what BePrepared is for. Put in your ZIP code and you get the picture for where you live — the flood, fire and storm history around you, the dams and facilities nearby, and a plan for your household rather than a general one. With a free account you can keep a watchlist of the places you care about, like your home, your parents' address, and your kids' school, and set what you want to hear about.

Where it hit hardest

Counted as distinct warnings, and as the days a county spent under one. A county is the smallest area these warnings describe.

Warnings by region

  • Mid-Atlantic115
  • Northeast15

Most days under a warning

  • New Castle County, DE12 days
  • Bucks County, PA11 days
  • Gloucester County, NJ11 days
  • Camden County, NJ11 days
  • Montgomery County, PA11 days
  • Philadelphia County, PA11 days
  • Delaware County, PA11 days
  • Burlington County, NJ10 days

Where the warnings landed

Every county in New Jersey that received a warning this month, coloured and scaled by how many; the faint dots are counties this edition does not cover.49 counties in New Jersey received at least one warning; the faint dots are every other county in the country, which this edition does not cover. Each county wears its MOST frequent kind of warning and its dot scales with how many it received; the month's three biggest kinds carry color and every other kind wears gray, with the panels below giving each kind its own map. The full per-county mix is in the CSV. 4 warned areas — marine zones and territories — have no county position on this map, about 1% of county-level warning volume. They are still counted in every figure and table. Too few counties to panel: safety & civil (1).
Burlington, NJ: 74 warnings · mostly floodingBucks, PA: 84 warnings · mostly floodingBucks, PA · 84Burlington, NJ · 74
  • Flooding
  • Severe storms
  • Extreme heat
  • Everything else

Flooding931 warnings · 45 counties

Severe storms623 warnings · 48 counties

Extreme heat168 warnings · 38 counties

Tornadoes50 warnings · 19 counties

View as a table
CountyStateWarningsMost frequent kind
BucksPA84Flooding
BurlingtonNJ74Flooding
BergenNJ73Flooding
GloucesterNJ72Flooding
MercerNJ66Flooding
CamdenNJ61Flooding
EssexNJ60Flooding
SomersetNJ58Flooding
WarrenNJ57Flooding
SalemNJ57Severe storms
MiddlesexNJ56Flooding
PassaicNJ56Flooding
HudsonNJ56Flooding
MontgomeryPA54Flooding
UnionNJ54Flooding
AtlanticNJ54Severe storms
HunterdonNJ51Flooding
MonmouthNJ51Severe storms
PhiladelphiaPA50Flooding
New CastleDE48Flooding

The human record

What it cost, and who reported it

These figures are not ours. Our archive records that a warning was issued, never what happened next, so every number here comes from the organization named beside it and was retrieved on September 22, 2026.

  • Displaced

    The August 27 flooding disrupted Rowan University's move-in day and displaced some students, without a reported count.

    Source: Rutgers University, New Jersey State Climate Office

  • Rescue

    Gloucester County Emergency Management spokesperson Andrew Halter told CNN that a large number of water rescues were carried out around Glassboro and Harrison Township on August 27.

    “large number”
    Andrew Halter, Gloucester County Emergency Management spokesperson, to CNN

    Source: CNN, published by ABC17 News

    ArchiveOur records show flash flooding warnings covering this area on August 27.

  • In their words

    Rowan student health center nurse practitioner Laura Deeley told 6abc that she found her car underwater after leaving work.

    “I left work and I came out here to get my car and go home and my car was underwater”
    Laura Deeley, Nurse practitioner at Rowan University's student health center, to 6abc Philadelphia / WPVI-TV

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia / WPVI-TV

  • In their words

    Rowan University sophomore James Didomenico described floodwater breaking through basement doors at an off-campus home where students had moved in two days earlier.

    “Door completely flies off right toward us. It was crazy. You can see how high the water got”
    James Didomenico, Rowan University sophomore living in the flooded off-campus home, to 6abc Philadelphia / WPVI-TV

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia / WPVI-TV

  • Damage

    Part of US 322 washed away in Mullica Hill during the August 27 flooding, making the road impassable.

    Source: Rutgers University, New Jersey State Climate Office

  • Rescue

    one driver rescued

    Police rescued a driver stranded in floodwater on Route 38 in Cherry Hill on August 3.

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia (WPVI-TV)

  • In their words

    Pennsauken resident Elisa McNair described repeated water intrusion during the August 3 downpours to 6abc Philadelphia.

    “Every time it downpoured it started back up again, so three times today it came on and never stopped”
    Elisa McNair, Pennsauken resident whose home experienced flooding, to 6abc Philadelphia (WPVI-TV)

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia (WPVI-TV)

  • Damage

    at least six homes affected, according to residents

    Residents of 44th Street in Pennsauken estimated that at least six homes were affected by flooding on August 3, 2026, with water entering basements around 5 a.m.

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia (WPVI-TV)

  • Closed

    Quaker Road in Princeton was closed until further notice because of flooding on August 3.

    Source: Planet Princeton

  • Closed

    62customers affected by five outages

    Planet Princeton reported five power outages affecting 62 Princeton customers on Monday afternoon, with restoration expected by 9:30 p.m.

    Source: Planet Princeton

  • Toll

    No injuries were reported from the August 20 tornado near Estell Manor.

    Source: Shore Local Newsmagazine

    ArchiveOur records show tornadoes and severe storms warnings covering this area on August 20.

  • Displaced

    The storms drove people indoors from Ocean City's boardwalk, with some visitors returning after conditions improved.

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia

  • In their words

    Andy Reim, visiting from Charlotte, North Carolina, told 6abc that he saw cars in ditches and emergency crews while driving through the August 20 storms.

    “There were a few cars in the ditch and emergency crews were out.”
    Andy Reim, Visitor from Charlotte, North Carolina, to 6abc Philadelphia

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia

  • In their words

    Manco & Manco Pizza manager Mike Frankel said the storms shortened the Ocean City restaurant's dinner rush and made conditions difficult for some delivery drivers.

    “a little bit of a hard time out there”
    Mike Frankel, Manager of Manco & Manco Pizza, to 6abc Philadelphia

    Source: 6abc Philadelphia

  • Damage

    Investigators found no damage definitively attributable to the Estell Manor tornado, which lasted approximately 30 seconds or less in an inaccessible wooded or marshy area.

    Source: Shore Local Newsmagazine

For 3 of these stories, research looked for reported deaths and injuries and found none. As far as the record shows, no one was hurt.

The numbers behind this report

Every warning counted once, by type, place, day and hour, with the method below and the whole table downloadable at the end of the page.

Distinct warnings
375
carried by 409 messages (1.09× echo)
Counties reached
53
across 3 states and territories
Overnight
64
10pm–6am local · 0 of the most severe
Effective on arrival
100%
take effect the moment they are sent

What was warned about

Alert typeWarningsMessages
Flash Flood Warning142142
Severe Thunderstorm Warning100100
Heat Advisory2234
Flood Advisory1818
Flood Warning1818
Flood Watch1721
Severe Thunderstorm Watch1519
Special Weather Statement1111

Where

StateWarnings
NJ315
DE53
CT7

The busiest hour of the period was 2pm local time, with 47 warnings.

Counties reached most often

CountyStateWarnings
BucksPA84
BurlingtonNJ74
BergenNJ73
GloucesterNJ72
MercerNJ66
CamdenNJ61
EssexNJ60
SomersetNJ58
WarrenNJ57
SalemNJ57

A county with no alerts is not a county with no risk. It can mean a quiet period, or a hazard that this feed does not carry.

When the warnings arrived

Distinct warnings by the local hour they were sent, across the whole period.Local time in the place each alert was sent to. 64 arrived between 10pm and 6am, 0 of them at the highest severity.
0204012am: 7 warnings1am: 6 warnings2am: 12 warnings3am: 15 warnings4am: 5 warnings5am: 7 warnings6am: 3 warnings7am: 3 warnings8am: 5 warnings9am: 6 warnings10am: 6 warnings11am: 4 warnings12pm: 11 warnings1pm: 36 warnings2pm: 47 warnings3pm: 42 warnings4pm: 30 warnings5pm: 43 warnings6pm: 28 warnings7pm: 32 warnings8pm: 12 warnings9pm: 3 warnings10pm: 4 warnings11pm: 8 warnings4712am3am6am9am12pm3pm6pm9pmShaded hours are overnight, 10pm to 6am local
View as a table
Local hourWarningsOf which most severe
12am70
1am60
2am120
3am150
4am50
5am70
6am30
7am30
8am50
9am60
10am60
11am40
12pm110
1pm361
2pm470
3pm420
4pm303
5pm432
6pm281
7pm329
8pm120
9pm30
10pm40
11pm80

The feed repeats itself

How many messages the feed carried, how many distinct warnings they represent, and how many counties those reached.An echo rate of 1.09× — for every warning issued, 1.09 messages carried it. Reporting messages as warnings would overstate this month by 34.
Messages received224 of them updates to a warning already sent409Distinct warningswhat every figure in this report counts375Counties reacheda warning usually covers several at once53
View as a table
StageCount
Messages received409
Of which updates224
Of which cancels0
Distinct warnings375
Counties reached53

How severe they were

Distinct warnings by the severity the issuing agency assigned.
MinorMinor: 2626ModerateModerate: 3636SevereSevere: 292292ExtremeExtreme: 1616Not classifiedNot classified: 55
  • Minor
  • Moderate
  • Severe
  • Extreme
  • Not classified
View as a table
SeverityWarnings
Minor26
Moderate36
Severe292
Extreme16
Not classified5

What people were told to do

The share of warnings carrying each instruction to the public.These are response counts. They record the instruction an alert carried, not the hazard behind it.
Avoid: 182 (48.5%)Avoid 49%Shelter: 111 (29.6%)Shelter 30%Follow instructions: 32 (8.5%)Everything else: 50 (13.3%)
  • Avoid
  • Shelter
  • Follow instructions
  • Everything else

Where those instructions came from

  • Shelter (111) — 23 corroborated as flood, 22 corroborated as tornado, 66 with no hazard stated in the alert text
View as a table
ResponseWarningsShare
Avoid18248.5%
Shelter11129.6%
Follow instructions328.5%
Monitor308.0%
Prepare174.5%
Unstated20.5%
All clear10.3%

What this report cannot tell you

  • This report records the warnings that were sent: when, where, and what people were told to do. It cannot say whether anyone received them, whether they acted, or whether they had anywhere to go.
  • Deaths, injuries, damage and acreage come from the news organizations and agencies named beside each figure. Our own records measure warnings, never outcomes, and are never the source for a toll.
  • A county is the smallest area these alerts describe, so "a county was warned" does not mean every street in it was at risk.
  • Where no figure has been reported, this report says so rather than estimating.

How these numbers were counted

Counted AUG 1, 2026 – SEP 1, 2026 · Frozen at publish

The alert figures in this report — how many warnings, where, when, and how severe — come from the alerts this archive received from FEMA IPAWS and the National Weather Service between August 1, 2026 and September 1, 2026, counted once and frozen when the report was published.

Deaths, damage and acreage are not ours and are never drawn from this archive. Each is attributed to the organization that reported it, above.

What was counted

  • Only alerts covering at least one county in New Jersey. An alert warning several states is counted in each of them, so state editions do not sum to the national total.
  • cap_status = 'Actual' (tests, exercises and demos excluded)
  • SAME test codes RWT/RMT/DMO/NPT/NAT excluded, and any event type containing "test"
  • An event is the first message of a CAP identifier chain; updates and cancels are counted separately
  • Alert time is cap_sent, falling back to ingest time when the feed omits it
  • Counties come from the alert geocodes (SAME/FIPS); statewide codes are not counted as counties

What these numbers cannot tell you

  • Lead time is the gap between when an alert was sent and when it takes effect. This archive collapses CAP onset into effective, so for many products those are the same instant by design — it is not a measure of forecast warning time.
  • 0 alerts expire exactly 24 hours after they were sent because the feed omitted an expiry and the ingest substitutes a default. They are excluded from the duration distribution rather than charted as real forecasts.
  • Evacuation and shelter figures are RESPONSE counts. They record what people were told to do, not what caused it; where the alert text does not name a hazard, the row is reported as unstated.
  • Hour-of-day figures use each alert’s own local time, resolved from its state. Alerts spanning several states resolve to the first state in their geocodes.
  • National Weather Service alerts began arriving in volume on 2026-06-12. Earlier months hold only the handful that reached this archive by other routes, so they undercount weather alerts badly and cannot be compared with later months.
  • Population figures are not available for these counties, so alert counts are reported per county and never per resident.

This archive

Collection began 2026-03-27. National Weather Service alerts began arriving in volume on 2026-06-12 (a small number reached the archive by other routes from 2026-03-31). Months from 2026-07-01 onward can be compared with each other; earlier ones cannot.

Corrections and updates

  • v2September 22, 2026
    Re-researched with the Story Method (Task 942): outcomes researched for New Jersey itself rather than inherited from the national edition, including rescues, displacements, closures and on-the-record accounts.

For newsrooms and researchers

Use these figures

Figures v2 · Frozen

Journalists, emergency managers and researchers are welcome to reuse anything in this report, including the underlying counts, with attribution. Version 2 of these figures is frozen: if a correction changes them, it appears above as a dated note rather than silently replacing what you cited.

Cite this report
BePreparedSolutions.co. "Floods displaced students and a tornado touched down in New Jersey." Alert Pulse, September 22, 2026. https://bepreparedsolutions.co/reports/alert-pulse/nj-2026-08
Attribution line for a chart or table
Source: BePrepared Solutions, Alert Pulse (2026). Alert counts from FEMA IPAWS and National Weather Service feeds; casualty and damage figures as attributed in the report.
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