More than 300,000 customers lost power as powerful thunderstorms tore through the region Monday night, downing wires and ripping tree limbs.
Tuesday morning, 230,000 were still without power. Multiple municipalities were warning motorists of downed trees blocking roadways and traffic light outages.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office reported before 10 a.m. that at least 40,000 people were without power. In Monmouth County, that sheriff’s office is reporting more than 117,000 customers remain without power.
“High winds in excess of 70 mph caused significant tree and equipment damage across our service area. We continue to assess damage and clear hazards as part of our efforts to safely restore customers who remain without power following last night’s storm,” Jersey Central Power & Light reported via social media Tuesday morning. “Based on the severity of the damage and the number of damage locations, this will be a multi-day restoration. Here’s a look at what crews are up against in the hardest-hit areas of Monmouth, Ocean and Burlington counties.”
The silver lining, for those optimists, is the storm brought with it cooler temperatures, giving some relief to the multi-day heat wave that baked the region.
“With the front still over the region, additional rounds of showers and thunderstorms are possible. However, we aren’t expecting anything as impactful as last evening. The threat for severe storms has already waned, and the threat for heavy rain leading to flooding will be decreasing later this morning,” the US National Weather Service Philadelphia/Mount Holly office said via social media Tuesday morning.
Did this round of storms produce a tornado? Bob “Weatherman” Burger snapped a photo of a possible funnel cloud over Point Pleasant Borough, which he plans to send to the National Weather Service for confirmation.
JCP&L is providing free water and ice to those without power. Those items can be picked up at:
• ShopRite, 2 Rt 37 W, Toms River
• ShopRite, Rt 36 & Rt 71, W Long Branch
• ShopRite, 2200 Rt 66, Neptune
• ShopRite, 2433 Rt 34, Manasquan
• ShopRite, 1801 Rt 35, Belmar
• ShopRite, 431 Atlantic City Blvd., Bayville
• ShopRite, 860 Fischer Blvd., Toms River
• ShopRite, 260 N County Line Road, Jackson
• ShopRite, Rt 9 & 1st Street, Lanoka Harbor
• ShopRite, 297 NJ-72, Manahawkin
• ShopRite, 1001 Rt-70, West Manchester Township
• ShopRite, 501 S Main St., Suite 100, Waretown
• Acme, 912 West Bay Ave., Barnegat
• Acme, 18 Broadway Rd, Browns Mills
• Acme, 3241 Rt 9, Freehold
• Acme, 616 Newman Springs Rd., Lincroft
• Acme, 507 Prospect Ave, Little Silver
• Acme, 3505 Rt 9, Old Bridge
• Acme, 5 Ortley Plaza, Seaside Heights
• Foodtown, 2201 Sunset Ave., Ocean
• Foodtown, Route 35 Seagirt Avenue, Sea Girt
• Foodtown, 1562 route 35, Ocean
• Foodtown, 362 Broad St., Red Bank
• Foodtown, 9 Rt 36, Atlantic Highlands
• Foodtown, 426 Rt 36, Port Monmouth
• ShopRite – Ronetco, 90-80 Rt 206 N, Byram
• ShopRite – Ronetco, 125 Water St., Newton
