Irene topples trees, leaves 45000 without power in Ocean County - The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
OCEAN COUNTY — Hurricane Irene dumped several inches of rain on Ocean County early this morning, kicking up ocean swells that splashed on to roadways and toppled enough power lines to leave roughly 45,000 people without power, officials said.
The storm dropped "hundreds of trees" and caused flooding in areas of Point Pleasant Beach, Long Beach Island and Bay Head , according to Donna Flynn, the county's public information director.
Heavy ocean waves were spilling onto parts of Route 35 in Bay Head around 8 a.m., she said, and powerful swells near the Point Pleasant Beach Boardwalk were causing similar flooding. Long Beach Island also experienced flooding in the 50 and 60 blocks of the township, Flynn said.
There are also scattered reports of downed power lines throughout the county, according to Flynn. More than 45,000 customers were without power in the area this morning, according to Jersey Central Power & Light's outage web site.
While Ocean and Monmouth counties were expected to face some of the worst of Irene's wrath, Flynn said the flooding in the area isn't much worse than a typical heavy thunderstorm.
"There's flooding, but its not major flooding," she said. "These are the things we would often see down here."
Irene spared Long Beach Island, a fragile barrier island that has been devastated by past major storms.
Long Beach Boulevard, the main road, was under about 6 to 8 inches of water in Beach Haven this morning after the high tide.
But by 9 a.m., it looked as if the sun was trying to come out, said Beach Haven resident Linda Kelly.
"We fared absolutely great," Kelly said. "I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it actually was. I just very much hope it won't affect people coming down next weekend. It is the last hurrah."
Most state highways in Ocean County are still accessible, Flynn said, but Route 72 was still shut down this morning due to the evacuation order that remains in effect for Long Beach Island.
Flynn said while the county dodged most of the damage expected to come from Irene's deluge, officials are still asking residents to stay indoors while rescue crews clean up some of the mess the storm left behind.
"Please don't come out of your houses yet," she said. "Everyone will be informed when it's the right time to come out, but that's not now."
In Point Pleasant Beach, policed cordoned off the oceanfront east of Route 35 because of downed power lines and minor flooding. They also were not permitting anyone on the boardwalk.
Katie Houman of Brick spent the night at her brother's house on Atlantic Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach to be closer to her job at the nearby CVS pharmacy, which had a delayed opening.
She and her co-worker Ken Vaughan, who lives with Houman's brother half a block from a JCP&L substation, said the sky lit up bright blue repeatedly last night from blown transformers.
"The light show was amazing," Houman said. "The sky was blue, orange and purple."
Added Vaughan, "Every time a transformer blew, we'd lose power for a little bit then it would go back on again."
More Hurricane Irene Coverage:
Hurricane Irene update: Storm pounding into N.J.'s Little Egg Inlet, outside Atlantic City
County by county reports of evacuations, flooding, damage
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/salem_county_woman_was_swept_a.html
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