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This article overlooks a lot of items that came into play in northern New Jersey. For one thing, most of the railyards used by NJ TRANSIT are located in low-lying areas where flooding is a potential problem. The reason for this is simple: In a place like New Jersey where there are many ranges of hills, the railroads were originally built along the few areas with level terrain: the river valleys. This is why Raritan Yard was built in the flood plain for the Raritan River, Dover Yard was built along the Rockaway River, Port Morris Yard was built between Lake Hopatcong and the Musconetcong River.

NJ TRANSIT made the same understandable mistake many people and leaders in New Jersey made with this storm. They based their storm preparations on the recent experience with Hurricane Irene last year. That storm brought drenching rain that caused severe flooding throughout the interior of New Jersey, while coastal flooding wasn't very bad. This storm brought little rain but a coastal storm surge of historic proportions, which meant the flooding wasn't the same as was last time.