By David Madden

HARVEY CEDARS, N.J. (CBS) — As New Jersey’s barrier islands braced for the second nor’easter storm in two weeks, Gov. Chris Christie was meeting with local officials and reporters to update them on the state’s efforts following Hurricane Sandy.

The state had cut the number of those still without power down to less than 400,000, the governor said — that is, before the latest storm.

Christie said he isn’t happy about the likelihood that those numbers will go up again.

“I hate setbacks. I don’t tolerate them usually very well. But this one I can’t control,” he said today at the High Point Volunteer Fire Company, in Harvey Cedars.

There are concerns for the overnight high tides along the coast. Most communities did what they could to rebuild sand dunes washed away by Sandy, but no one is quite sure how well they’ll hold.  There has been tidal flooding in areas that normally experience it in a nor’easter.

Rain has been falling since midmorning and was expected to get worse throughout the day.  The midday high tide was expected to bring some flooding to the Long Beach Island area.

A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Toms River, NJ (see related story).  In other areas, evacuations are voluntary and evacuation centers have been set up in several locations.

The good news is that this storm was not expected to be nearly as bad as Sandy, and the tides were expected to be less extreme because the moon is no longer full.

So, homeowners are keeping their fingers crossed.

Long Beach Island remains closed to the general public — those wishing to get onto the island must go through a police checkpoint.  Meanwhile, contractors and National Guard troops continue their cleanup from Sandy while they can.