A slow-moving storm system that tracked up the eastern seaboard saturated the Newark area with nearly 3 inches of rain on Tuesday, flooding streets and breaking a daily rainfall record for Nov. 15.

Newark ended up getting 2.79 inches of rain, shattering the city's previous record of 1.48 inches, set on Nov. 15, 1983, said Pete Wichrowski, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional office in Upton, N.Y., which covers northeastern sections of New Jersey.

"We had some heavier showers and some isolated thunderstorms" in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties, Wichrowski said. "It wasn't even a real powerful system, but it was slow moving."

More than a dozen roads in Newark, including parts of McCarter Highway and Broad Street, were temporarily closed because of flooding, city officials reported. Some drivers posted photos on social media showing cars trying to navigate through high water on Newark streets.

Although it may have frustrated motorists, the heavy rain helped to trim the huge rainfall deficit that has led to severe drought conditions in Essex and 13 other counties across New Jersey.

"Any rainfall is welcome. We're still running with a lot of deficits," Wichrowski said. "Every little bit helps."

Prior to Tuesday's deluge, Newark had a precipitation shortfall of more than 11 inches this year. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 14, Newark received 29.18 inches of rain and melted snow, according to climate data from the National Weather Service. The city usually gets 40.41 inches of precipitation during that time-frame.

In the entire month of November, Newark usually gets 3.65 inches of precipitation, Wichrowski said. With Tuesday's heavy rain included, the city now has 2.99 inches so far this month.

That's almost the same amount of rain that fell in October and almost as much as what Newark received in the two previous months combined -- 2.17 inches in September and 0.93 inches in August.

The storage capacity in many major reservoirs in New Jersey has been steadily dropping, prompting the state to declare a drought warning in 14 counties on Oct. 21.

Help on rte 21 north newark.

Highway flooding

Traffic stopped@CBS2ThisMorning

Send help.

North of 3rd Ave S of Chester Ave. pic.twitter.com/PYF05XWcJM — J N Hahn (@HatHunter) November 15, 2016

Among the other places across New Jersey that got a heavy dose of rain on Tuesday were Harrison (2.31 inches), Holmdel (2.16 inches), Wayne (2.01 inches), Kearny (1.96 inches), Hawthorne (1.78 inches), North Arlington (1.75 inches), Wall (1.74 inches), Brick, Haworth, Lyndhurst and Ramsey (1.73 inches), Middletown (1.68 inches) and Jersey City (1.65 inches).

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.