'The best choice is to stay home': New Jersey county slammed with rain and wind

LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Monmouth County, in many ways, was the center of the action Wednesday, dampened not only by the rain but blowing wind.

"Horrible. Not good," said Nereida Jones from Cliffwood Beach. "Not good, but it's Mother Nature, so what can we do."

"I couldn't get out of the car, because the wind was coming this way I couldn't open the door," said Donna from Morganville.

When going about your business, weather like this can be enough to break your spirit. Instead, Yulia from Aberdeen is thinking about the honeysuckle that will soon bloom in her backyard.

"Today's rain, tomorrow I will have more flowers," Yulia said.

In Long Branch, McLoone's Pier House is taking hits in more ways than one, with customers being driven away by the driving wind and rain.

"There's always that concern, especially for our outside section that we set up a couple of weeks ago," said manager Allen Shoimer. "We did have to kind of take it apart, put some umbrellas down just to make sure nothing is blowing away."

Coastal flooding is also a concern. Northern parts of Long Branch could see moderate flooding, officials say, along with some precarious side effects from the winds.

"The ground's pretty saturated after the last couple of weeks of all this rain that we've had," said Long Bracjh OEM Coordinator Stan Dziuba. "There's a good possibility of some trees coming down and tree limbs, wires, and live wires down on the road, everything. The best choice is to stay home."