another winter storm is hitting the state it's the first of two potential events this week alone forecasters Say it'll be widespread bringing with it 2 to four inches of snow across most of New Jersey up to 5 Ines is possible in Northwestern parts of the state but the timing of the snowfall is expected to be the toughest part snow switching over to a wintry mix early tomorrow morning that could make for a messy commute and possibly delayed School openings the National Weather Service is also tracking the potential of more significant snow Thursday into Friday and issued winter weather advisories beginning tonight for every County except Kate May and the coastal section of Atlantic it's adding insult to injury for residents along the pic river which is slowly receding in areas like Patterson and Little Falls after reaching major flood stage the towns were battered by the recent rainstorms and for the third time in a month homeowners and residents are dealing with the aftermath pumping out flood water and Desperately Seeking the state's help senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports horrible very horrible this is not what I planned when I moved on the Block celestina mendz moved into her Paterson apartment just three weeks ago on a street along the pic River now like her neighbors and thousands of other flooded out folks she's angry demanding answers this is crazy this is this is ridiculous they need to either build a higher Bridge or build a higher wall so the water doesn't come this way because I've been told that this been going on for years we need some some help about that because we have six day without any hog water all everything is damaged downstairs Angel Mahia showed us his basement where 5et of water is receding leaving behind a damaged hot water heater and furnace in just a few days the flood drowned car cars and blocked access to businesses like this body shop how much do you think the business is losing uh weekly well I could speak on my behalf weekly we're losing over like $7,000 a week if so yeah that's a lot of money this is ongoing problem for years and you would think they would uh be able to fix it Nathan Pitman lives in a home that's been elevated above flood levels the governor last week said Jersey is offering $10 million in Aid to help homeowners Elevate homes in high-risk flood zones or buy them out entirely derelict structures obviously damaged in Prior floods sit abandoned along many of these streets I mean there's been talk that you want to dredge the river so anything that can help alleviate the pain here in Patterson because too many people are in pain in Patterson mayor Andre seya met us on Bergen Street where flood waters had started freezing snow is expected tonight he's pushing for funds to build a flood wall we applied for a grant through the Department of Community Affairs it's a flood resiliency Grant and it's to build a wall on McBride Avenue the pic river is cresting at about 9 ft right now but the river's historic record to 17 1/2 ft back in 1903 that's not surprising given about 40 rivers and Brooks empty into the pic Basin from all around North Jersey the problem is draining that Basin 30 years ago the Army Corps of Engineers studied the problem and recommended a 20m long tunnel to drain flood water from the Wayne area down to Newark Bay plus build more than 17 miles of levies and six miles of flood walls experts estimated that tunnel could cost aund million a mile to construct and the idea went nowhere but now Congressman Bill pascrell is asking the Army Corps to revive the concept seya agrees I want to explore all options because these folks here these poor people need relief he said the city's office of emergency management still assessing damages and has joined with the United Way to raise funds for flood victims the rivers not expected to completely subside until later this week in Paterson I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News [Music]