Heavy rain floods roads, knocks out power across NJ
BELMAR — Strong thunderstorms that dropped several inches of rain closed roads and knocked out power on Sunday, especially in Central Jersey.
The summer like temperatures and high humidity of Saturday fueled the storms which produced heavy rain on Saturday night into Sunday morning, according to to meteorologist Dan Zarrow.
Zarrow said the Storm Prediction Center shows one official severe weather report for New Jersey so far. The report showed 20 to 25 downed trees were reported in the Twinbrook Village area of of Ocean Township (Monmouth County) around 7:13 p.m. Saturday.
Radar estimates the area around Lincroft, Red Bank, Eatontown, and Tinton Falls in Monmouth County saw 4 or 5 inches of rain, which led to a number of roads being closed including:
- Route 34 north/south between Route 33 and Esperana Rd in Farmingdale
- Route 1 northbound between Route 522 and Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction
- Route 35 between Route 138 and Route 71 in Wall Township and into Belmar
- Route 29 north/southbound - CLOSED between Washington Crossing Rd and Pleasant Valley Rd in Hopewell with a fallen tree and downed wires.
- Route 33 in Freehold between Rt 9 and 79
- Route 79 in Freehold between Rt 33 and Brinkenhoff Ave
- Route 35 in Eatontown near Wyckoff Rd
- Route 35 in Aberdeen between County Rd and Laurence Pkway
- Route 22 in North Plainfield between Watchung Ave and North Drive
- Route 130 north/southbound in Pennsville at Hawks Bridge Road
According to their respective websites around 3,000 customers were without power on Sunday as of 1:20 p.m. including:
- 2,487 JCP&L customers mostly in Monmouth County
- 435 PSE&G customers scattered throughout its service area
Over 11,000 customers were in the dark around 11 a.m.
Zarrow said Sunday will be cloudy with more rain by evening. Monday looks better with just the chance of a shower. If there's more sunshine than clouds temperatures could hit 80.