Storms in NJ: Water spouts, floods, power outage at Great Adventure

Strong thunderstorms Monday afternoon created two two water spouts, dropped hail the size of ping-pong balls and brought rides at Six Flags Great Adventure to a halt.

The severe weather included areas of 4-inch rainfall and wind gusts as high as 66 mph in Berkeley, according to Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow, who said clouds on Tuesday will limit sunshine that would have fired up more thunderstorms, although they are still possible.

The waterspouts formed several hours apart off Stone Harbor, according to the Press of Atlantic City.  A waterspout is a tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water, according to the NWS.

A funnel cloud was also reported over Folsom in Atlantic County. The National Weather Service reported large hail in Edison and Hamilton.

A two-minute loss of power at Great Adventure in Jackson at 12:30 p.m. shut down the rides. Spokeswoman Kristen Fitzgerald said all rides were eventually reopened as some smaller rides can quickly be restarted while others require more extensive safety checks and take longer.

The outage originated at JCP&L's Cookstown station and the utility is working to correct the issue, Fitzgerald said.

The heavy rain led to a flooded section of Route 287 in Morristown near exit 36, as seen in a picture posted to the Reddit website.

NJ Transit’s Morris & Essex Line was shut after a large tree fell onto the overhead wires west of Summit. Another tree caused service on the Atlantic City Line to be suspended Monday afternoon.

Hackensack firefighters rescued at least 17 people on Monday from flooded cars, and a multi-vehicle crash on Anderson Street.

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