If you’re at the beach, Verona, Gov. Chris Christie would like you to head home. With Hurricane Irene set to deliver 85 mph winds and strong storm surges on Sunday, the governor today asked everybody to leave the Shore, or if your rental was supposed to start this weekend, to not go down. Christie stopped short of ordering a mandatory evacuation of the Shore, but indicated that police could begin to not allow incoming traffic into the barrier islands.
In Essex County, the storm surge map (which, inexplicably, has been labeled “Essex-Slosh“) indicates the potential for flooding in all the areas you would expect along the Newark Bay and Passaic River, which will likely make it difficult to use two of the county’s designated evacuation paths, the Turnpike and route 21.
Here’s the governor’s press conference.
