Coast Guard calls off search for NJ boater who went missing in storm

UPDATE: Body of missing boater found

OCEAN GATE — The Coast Guard has called off the search who for a man who went missing during a violent thunderstorm on Tuesday.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo told New Jersey 101.5 that the search for the boater, identified by State Police as Matthew Conway, 67, of Ocean Gate, was called off on Wednesday.

Conway, whose image was captured by a security camera before he went out in a row boat, left on Tuesday morning before the storm moved in with strong winds and heavy rain. His wife reported him missing a few hours later.

The National Weather Service said that the damage in Ocean and Monmouth counties on Tuesday afternoon was not caused by a tornado but by straight-line winds associated with the cold front that moved through the area. The front also caused damage in Haddon Heights and Lawrenceville, according to the National Weather Service.

Damage in the Normandy Beach section of Brick is still under investigation by the NWS.

"In the end, it does matter what we call the storms that hit on Tuesday,"  Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said. "Severe thunderstorms are a reality here in New Jersey, especially in the warm spring and summer months. When nasty weather threatens, we all have to keep 'weather aware' to stay safe."

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