OCEAN COUNTY – A powerful line of thunderstorms that tore through the area Monday morning left behind a mess of downed wires and power outages.
Manchester Township was hit with downed high-tension power lines that shut down Route 70 between Ridgeway Road and Tobias Avenue for several hours. The road was opened just after 9 a.m. but Colonial Drive remained closed.
Chilvers and New York avenues in Whiting had to close because of downed power lines as well. Manchester Police also reported “severe flooding” in Whiting on Route 70 at mile marker 36.
Manchester Schools at first called for a 90-minute delayed opening because of the power issues and flooding, but was finally forced to close the schools when those issues weren’t resolved in time.
“Regional Day and the high school had no power but as of now (10:30 a.m.) it is restored. MTES power is still out. Mr. Trethaway said they were told that JCP&L could not predict when power would be restored. He said with the power outages along with the police notifying that there were power lines down and traffic lights out created dangerous situations and were all factors in first delaying and then cancelling school,” Manchester Schools PIO Lee Bruzaitis told Jersey Shore Online. “
The MTES concert has been cancelled. A new date will be announced.
Lakehurst Elementary School also closed due to road closures and “Manchester’s inability to supply lunches and transportation,” a 7:51 a.m. Nixle message said.
The Manchester branch of the Ocean County Library is also closed due to having no power.
As of 10:15 a.m., JCP&L was reporting 6,493 in Manchester and 575 in Toms River are without power. Brick Township Police have also reported sporadic power outages throughout the township since early morning.
