Jeff Ranieri, Meteorologist

What a Nor'Easter this has been. After our long and complete coverage I am finally getting a chance to sit down and share some thoughts on the flooding and Nor'Easter....

If you're interested, hop into my reporter notebook below as I share some of my thoughts.

I knew it was going to be a long week to come for residents of New Jersey from the begining of my day in the field on Monday. It took myself and the crew upwards of two hours to get to our location as countless roads were closed on Monday in New Jersey. We arrived in time for our Today Show live shot just in time with several feet of water at our location. What we encountered in

Lodi, New Jersey saw record rainfall, historic flooding, trapped residents and people that may need to find new places to live as flood waters invaded the very space they call home.

WATCH: Click here to watch Jeff's Today Show report

The location was cold, damp and wet as the Nor'Easter wrapped around artic air into the system and what seemed to be non stop rainfall. Pumps were working overtime on basements as residents were trying to save what they could.

The water kept rising through the day as the rain seemed relentless. Hope in the forecast came around 2pm Monday as the sun tried to part the clouds and the temperature started to rise. Another small bonus was that the water started to recede by the end of the day and residents came out to check the damage. As the water started to sink the evidence of damage was visibly increasing. From talking with residents, it was definite it was the worst flooding that many had witnessed in a lifetime.

The total amount of rainfall that occured was dramatic and intense with 7-10 inches of rainfall in just 36 hours. The problem in Norther New Jersey for residents is the land. Many of the residents in New Jersey are acustom to flooding as they live in one of the most flood prone river basins in the United States, the Passaic River Basin. The PRB is below sea leve in places and a huge system of rivers also run and drain in the basin, creating a major flood potential with any large storm. This river basin has been known to produce major flodding for the past 100 years and the current residents know flooding well - but with this storm it was different.

What made this different? It was the historic rainfall in such a short amount of time. Most of the Passaic River Basin had 10 plus inches of rain in just 36 hours. In Lodi, New Jersey where I reported from this will probably go down as one of the top three flooding events in history and possibly as the strongest Spring flood on record.

It is now 3 days after the major event that caused the flooding and we are still monotoring downstream flooding in the Passaic River Basin. The forecast today keeps the weather cloudy with the Nor'Easter still centered well offshore of the Northeast. We will be done with the clouds and lingering showers by the weekend. Flooding concerns will remain for parts of New Jersey through the weekend with the downstream flooding. Early next week we should see a marked improvement in many areas.

The unfortunate thing about this storm is while the water goes down and the sun comes out the second phase of the problem for residents is just begining, the cleanup. Mold, Mildew and rebuilding will last for months. The flood threat for the very vunerable Passaic River Basin will last on as Mother Nature will never be kind to the residents of this area with any large and wet weather system.