Power Outage in Perth Amboy, NJ

Multiple reports of downed wires and power outages in the Jamesburg area. Time estimated from radar.

A Weatherflow gauge at Perth Amboy measured a 66 mph wind gust. Widespread reports of downed trees and power outages were received.

A power pole and wires were downed on US-9 near the NJ-35 interchange. Time estimated from radar.

A power pole and wires were downed on NJ-27 south of Iselin Railroad Station in Woodbridge Twp. Time estimated from radar.

Photos received on social media of trees and power poles downed. Time estimated from radar.

Downed power poles and wires on NJ-35 near the Morgan Drawbridge. Time estimated from radar.

A row of power poles were snapped along Route 34 in Old Bridge. Time estimated from radar.

WeatherFlow station X000 (XPER) in Perth Amboy, NJ measured a 58 mph wind gust at 3:12am. A sustained wind speed of 46 mph was also reported around the same time. Power lines were reported down on NJ-35 south of the NJ Turnpike. All lanes were closed and detoured. A tree was blown down on the Garden State Parkway Southbound north of the Colonia Service Area. The right lane and shoulder were blocked.

Trees and wires down with power outages in Old Bridge.

A 74-year-old Edison man died of a heart attack on the morning of the 28th after he spent most of the overnight bailing water from his basement. Every municipality in Middlesex County had flooding problems and in addition half the county lost power. Major roadways that were closed due to flooding included U.S, Routes 1 and 130 and New Jersey State Routes 18 and 27. Monroe Township was one of the harder hit townships in Middlesex County as flooding along the Manalapan and Matchaponix Brooks affected 200 homes. Eleven homes were uninhabitable and a Tyndale Avenue home was knocked off its foundation. In Woodbridge, the Woodbridge River flooded. In the Avenel section of the township, the Ideal Mobile Home development was evacuated. In Old Bridge Township, flooding along the South River isolated four blocks in the township and moved two homes off their foundation. In Spotswood Borough, the historical Saint Peter's Episcopal Church was badly damaged|||The main stem of the Raritan River had major flooding and its second highest crest on record only surpassed by the flooding during Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. The Raritan River at Bound Brook was above its 28 foot flood stage from 310 a.m. EDT on the 28th through 336 a.m. EDT on the 30th. It crested at 41.90 feet at 6 p.m. EDT on the 28th. The Bound Brook at Middlesex had a record breaking crest of 13.99 feet at 315 p.m. EDT on the 28th. The brook was above its 9 foot flood stage from 319 a.m. EDT on the 28th through 742 a.m. EDT on the 29th. Event rainfall totals included 9.03 inches in South Plainfield, 8.31 inches in New Brunswick, 8.14 inches in Cranbury Township, 7.72 inches in North Brunswick and 7.24 inches in South Brunswick.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down a few trees in Sayreville, Old Bridge and South Amboy. The combination of lightning and damaging winds caused about 1,500 homes and businesses to lose power in Middlesex County. Power was full restored early on the 23rd.

A wet microburst associated with a severe thunderstorm caused considerable tree and some wind damage in Perth Amboy. The estimated maximum wind speed was about 80 mph and struck the historic district in the southeast part of Perth Amboy the hardest. About 15 to 20 homes and buildings were damaged. One family on Paterson Street had to be relocated because the roof over the front door of their home became detached. A state of emergency was declared and only emergency responders were permitted to travel through the southeast part of the city. It was lifted on the 18th when most streets were passable again. There was a measured wind gust of 73 mph within Perth Amboy. A funnel cloud also passed across the city, but did not touch down. Damage from the microburst occurred in an area bounded by 2nd Street to the west, Smith Street to the north, and the waterfront on the east and south. The most concentrated damage occurred on Water, Market and High Streets. Snapped trees and tree branches were the prevalent damage type, but roof and chimney damage also occurred in several locations. A couple of cars were also damaged by downed trees. No homes experienced significant structural damage, but several garages were badly damaged by either the winds themselves or collaterally from flying and/or falling debris. One minor injury due to flying debris occurred along First Street. The worst damage was located in a two-block area bounded by Second Street, Gordon Street, Madison Avenue and Lewis Street. Several large trees and numerous power lines were blown down, and structural damage occurred to several garages. Numerous houses in this area suffered roof damage, mainly in the form of lost shingles and damaged or destroyed chimneys. Several homes had sections of roofs torn away. A roof was also torn from one industrial building along Second Street, portions of which were transported several blocks away. Extensive tree damage also occurred in and near Bayview Park. Personnel from the city of Perth Amboy and the city of Woodbridge worked through the night to clean up the storm debris.

A severe thunderstorm caused wind damage across the northern tier of Middlesex County from Edison through Pert Amboy. Several trees and limbs were knocked down in Edison. There were eight calls about wind and lightning damage in Pert Amboy. Some large tree limbs were also knocked down in Woodbridge and Carteret. About 8,000 homes and businesses lost power in the county.

A severe thunderstorm downed numerous trees and power lines in South Brunswick Township. Most of the wind damage occurred around the Monmouth Junction and Dayton sections of the township. Downed trees damaged at least one home in the Woodland Estates section of the township. Downed trees damaged vehicles at the East Garden Apartment Complex. Trees were knocked down around the Crossroads Middle School. Trees were knocked down along County Route 522 (Monmouth Junction Road). Both Major and Georges Roads were closed because of downed trees. About 5,000 homes and businesses lost power from the afternoon severe thunderstorms in the area.

Severe thunderstorms knocked down trees and power lines in East Brunswick, Edison, Highland Park, Sayreville and Woodbridge. The downed trees closed a roadway in East Brunswick.

High winds blew through the area after a cold frontal passage, enough to lead to downed trees and wires during the day of the 13th and from a severe squall line early on the 13th. Temperatures were also cold enough with the main low pressure system along the front to produce a wintry mix across northern portions of the state.||In terms of freezing rain across northern portions of the state, accumulations were generally light with .05 inches in Warren Twp, .01 inches At the Sussex ASOS, .03 inches at the Somerset airport and .09 inches in Jefferson Twp. The highest total was near Randolph twp at .25 inches. Snow accumulations averaged around an inch in Morris County and from 1-3 inches in Sussex county. ||Further south, a squall line of thunderstorms moved through resulting in some wind damage around midnight on the 13th. A 57 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured at the Morris NJWXNET site just before midnight on the 13th. A 52 mph thunderstorm wind gust was reported a few minutes later near the Port Norris NJWXNET site.||Winds behind the front were also gusty. Top gusts were 51 mph at the Atlantic City ASOS, 46 mph in Jobstown, 57 mph in Wissoming, 54 mph at the Cape May COOP, 50 mph in Port Norris, 56 mph in Wenonah, 49 mph near Hughnot, 45 mph in Wantage and 54 mph at the Maxwell field ASOS.||Several thousand power outages were reported with some lasting 24 hours in Sussex and Morris counties.

Gusty northwest winds following a cold frontal passage affected locations near and along Raritan Bay in New Jersey during the late afternoon and early evening on the 17th. Peak wind gusts averaged 45 to 50 mph and knocked down weak tree limbs and wires and caused isolated power outages. Peak wind gusts included 49 mph in Perth Amboy (Middlesex County) and 45 mph in Sandy Hook (Monmouth County). The strong, gusty northwest winds followed a cold frontal passage during the late morning on the 17th. The pressure gradient or difference between an approaching high pressure system over the Northern Plains and the low pressure system associated with the cold front in New England was maximized during the late afternoon and early evening and slowly weakened as winds diminished later that evening.

A strong nor'easter caused strong winds as well as minor to moderate tidal flooding in Upper Delaware Bay and around Raritan Bay and moderate tidal flooding in Lower Delaware Bay and Atlantic Coastal New Jersey on the 9th. The nor'easter also caused minor to moderate beach erosion. Peak wind gusts averaged 45 to 55 mph along coastal New Jersey and knocked down weak trees, tree limbs and power lines. Because of the adverse weather, New Jersey Transit cross-honored train tickets.||Tidal flooding affected all of the coastal counties in New Jersey. In Monmouth County, in Sea Bright, two women were rescued from flooded waters in two separate incidents on Ocean Avenue. They both attempted to drive through flood waters. Flooding was also reported along Raritan Bay. In Ocean County, a steel sea wall was exposed in Mantoloking and Brick. A nine foot drop-off was reported along the beach. Sand bags were distributed in Toms River Township. In Lavallette, flooding forced the closure of one lane on Northbound New Jersey State Route 35 south of Washington Street. More extensive coastal and roadway flooding was reported on the southern half of Long Beach Island. Sections of Long Beach Boulevard were flooded and closed as vehicles were detoured to back roads. In Atlantic County, waves were crashing onto roadways in Longport. In Cape May County, West Wildwood closed the George Redding Bridge (New Jersey State Route 47). In Ocean City, tidal flooding reached the doorways of businesses on West Avenue. Schools were closed.||The onshore flow around a surface high moving across Canada and spring tides with the departing full moon, caused minor tidal flooding to start with the morning tide cycles on the 7th and 8th. But, they peaked with the high tide cycle on the morning of the 9th with the arrival of the nor'easter. Highest tides included 7.61 feet above mean lower low water at Sandy Hook (Monmouth County). The moderate tidal flooding threshold is 7.70 feet above mean lower low water. The highest tide at Atlantic City (Atlantic County) was 7.22 feet above mean lower low water. The moderate tidal flooding threshold is 7.0 feet above mean lower low water. The highest tide at the Cape May Ferry Terminal (Cape May County) was 7.78 feet above mean lower low water. The moderate tidal flooding threshold is 7.7 feet above mean lower low water. Along the tidal Watson Creek at Manasquan (Monmouth County), minor flooding occurred 726 a.m. EST through 956 a.m. EST on the 8th. On the 9th, moderate flooding occurred and the creek was above its 5.5 foot flood stage from 736 a.m. EST through 1117 a.m. EST. It crested at 6.54 feet at 948 a.m. EST. ||All of the following gage sites experienced at least minor tidal flooding. We are collaborating with municipalities to fine tune threshold heights for moderate and major coastal flooding. Once they are made official, we will begin categorizing the type of coastal flooding at these sites. Highest tides included 8.13 feet above mean lower low water at South Amboy (Middlesex County), 6.67 feet above mean lower low water at Sea Bright (Monmouth County), 7.39 feet above mean lower at Belmar (Monmouth County), 3.84 feet above mean lower low water at Ship Bottom (Ocean County), 7.30 feet above mean lower low water at Tuckerton (Ocean County), 6.78 feet above mean lower low water at Absecon (Atlantic County), 7.38 feet above mean lower low water at Stone Harbor (Cape May County) and 8.04 feet above mean lower low water at Bivalve (Cumberland County). ||Peak wind gusts included 56 mph in Kite Island in Barnegat Bay (Ocean County) and Tuckerton (Ocean County), 55 mph in Harvey Cedars (Ocean County), 52 mph in Long Beach Township (Ocean County), 50 mph in Brick Township and Barnegat Inlet (Ocean County), 49 mph in Sea Girt (Monmouth County) and Waretown (Ocean County), 47 mph in Monmouth Beach (Monmouth County) and 46 mph in Sandy Hook (Monmouth County) and Cape May Harbor (Cape May County).||The strong winds and moderate coastal flooding were caused by an intensifying nor'easter low pressure system. The pressure gradient (difference) was already in place with a high pressure system over the Canadian Maritimes. Meanwhile, the low pressure system formed off the Carolina coastal waters on the 8th. It tracked northward and deepened (intensified) as it reached the Delmarva coastal waters at 7 a.m. EST on the 9th. The low pressure system deepened an additional twelve millibars during the next six hours and was off the New Jersey coastal waters at 1 p.m. EST on the 9th. The low pressure system stopped intensifying and drifted off to the northeast reaching the Rhode Island coastal waters during the evening of the 9th and eastern Massachusetts around Midnight EST on the 10th. Once this intensification process stopped, so did the strong winds and the 9th was the last high tide cycle in which coastal flooding occurred.

A lee side trof helped trigger clusters of showers and thunderstorms during the second half of the morning and afternoon. While the greatest impact was flash flooding in the Raritan Basin of New Jersey, lightning and wind damage also occurred. About 6,000 homes and businesses lost power in the state.

An approaching back door cold front (from the north) and an unseasonably hot as well as humid air mass combined to trigger scattered strong to severe thunderstorms mainly in the northern half of New Jersey on the afternoon and evening of the 18th. About 30,500 Public Service Electric & Gas and Jersey Central Power & Light customers lost power, mainly in the northern half of New Jersey.

A decaying cold frontal boundary triggered thunderstorms into the afternoon of the 17th in New Jersey. Lightning caused about 8,300 homes and businesses to lose power during the morning in Somerset and Middlesex Counties. Power was not fully restored until the afternoon of the 17th.

A severe thunderstorm rolled through Middlesex County, NJ during the afternoon of July 21st. The storm knocked down a tree in Edison, with power lines down on Route 130 at 4:03 PM EDT. The storm also produced hail the size of dimes (about 0.50-inch in diameter) in both Perth Amboy and Old Bridge at 4:10 PM EDT.

A severe thunderstorm pulled down numerous large tree limbs and wires in Sayreville Borough and neighboring Old Bridge Township. The combination of damaging winds and lightning caused about 2,500 homes and businesses to lose power during in East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Old Bridge, Sayreville, South Amboy, South Plainfield, South River and Woodbridge. The greatest number of outages was in Sayreville Borough.

Lightning struck a Public Service Electric and Gas substation in Edison and caused 4,700 homes and businesses to lose power.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down a few trees and blew over a fence in South Plainfield Borough. There were also numerous reports of quarter size hail. In neighboring Edison Township the same thunderstorm tore down wires on three blocks. The combination of the damaging winds and lightning caused about 20,000 Public Service Electric and Gas customers to lose power throughout the day in central New Jersey including Middlesex County.

A line of severe thunderstorms caused wind damage in several municipalities across Middlesex County in addition to the brief tornado that touched down in southern Edison Township. In North Brunswick, New Jersey State Route 27 was closed because of a downed tree. In New Brunswick, a car was crushed by a downed tree on New Jersey State Route 18. The occupants were not harmed. The roadway was reduced for one land for 90 minutes and traffic backed to the New Jersey Turnpike. Road closures also occurred because of downed wires in South Amboy and Monroe Townships. In Edison Township, several trees were knocked down. Two metal storage trailers were hoisted at the James Madison Intermediate School. One landed in the woods, the other landed and damaged a basketball court. The wind also broke several windows at the school. In Woodbridge Township, large trees came down on two blocks and damaged a few homes and vehicles. About 3,250 homes and businesses lost power in the county with the greatest concentration in Edison and South Plainfield Townships.

A powerful line of severe thunderstorms produced a measured wind gust to 75 mph at the GFDL Laboratory in Plainsboro Township. A large number of large trees were knocked down from the intersection of Plainsboro Road and U.S. Route 1 northeast for about a mile and a half. No homes were damaged. Farther northeast the same line of severe storms tore down whole trees in East and North Brunswick Townships.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down several trees at the intersection of River and Centennial Roads in Piscataway Township and forced road closures. Public Service Electric and Gas reported about 18,000 of its customers lost power because of the series of severe thunderstorms in central New Jersey. Hardest hit in Middlesex County were Edison and Piscataway Townships.

The second severe thunderstorm of the afternoon in Middlesex County dropped golf ball size hail in Piscataway Township and New Brunswick and penny size hail in Milltown Borough. Public Service Electric and Gas reported about 18,000 of its customers lost power because of the series of severe thunderstorms in central New Jersey. Hardest hit in Middlesex County were Edison and Piscataway Townships.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down several trees and power lines in South Brunswick and Monroe Townships. South Brunswick police responded to about 50 storm related calls.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down dozens of trees in Plainsboro Township. Some trees were as large as three feet in diameter. One tree fell on and damaged a home. Others were tangled in power lines. Public Service Electric and Gas reported about 6,000 of its customers lost power because of the severe thunderstorms in central New Jersey.

A lightning strike within the Ridgeview Development in South Brunswick Township left 25 homes without power. In one home, the lightning blew out an electrical outlet, damaged a cordless phone and a couple of television sets.

A severe thunderstorm knocked down trees and power lines in Milltown Borough and East Brunswick Township.

A severe thunderstorm pulled down wires in southwest Middlesex County. About 2,000 homes and businesses lost power in Middlesex and neighboring Mercer County. The outages in Middlesex County were concentrated in Cranbury, Plainsboro and South Brunswick Townships.

Lightning struck a transformer on Old Bridge Turnpike in East Brunswick Township and knocked wires across the roadway. Other lightning strikes caused power outages in North Brunswick. GPU reported that 6,500 homes and businesses lost power in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean Townships.

A very intense severe thunderstorm caused about one million dollars in damage to homes and properties within South Plainfield Borough. Hundreds of trees were knocked down, some were four feet in diameter. Power was lost to 28,700 customers in the area as seventeen telephone poles were snapped. Power was not fully restored until the 22nd. A state of emergency was declared in the borough. A dozen streets were impassable because of downed trees. No serious injuries were reported. The severe thunderstorm damaged 36 homes. The worst damage occurred to a house on Reiffel Place when an 80 foot oak tree crushed its roof and rendered it uninhabitable. Over half of the monetary damage occurred in the Clinton Corners Strip Mall. The thunderstorm ripped the roof from the Bravo Supermarket within the mall. About seven other stores within the mall suffered lesser damage. At least one vehicle within the borough was crushed by the fallen trees.