Thousands Of Power Outages, Trees Down In Howell From Storm

This story has been updated as of 4:45 p.m.

HOWELL, NJ — Howell, especially north of I-195, seems to be one of the hardest hit areas from the Friday afternoon thunderstorm in Central Jersey, officials say.

The township posted more details, but it was expected to take three to four hours Friday night to fully restore power, officials said.

There was been flooding, many trees down and one case of someone trapped in a car that a tree fell on, Howell Councilman Fred Gasior said. Emergency personnel worked on the rescue, he said.

Jersey Central Power & Light has reported to the town that there is an outage affecting 2,085 customers, Gasior reported.

He said there was hail that was a "pretty good size" earlier in the afternoon.

He said local Department of Works employees were clearing trees in township areas, but JCP&L is the only agency that can work on trees on Route 9, where wires came down.

Here is the weather update from the township, provided by Township Manager Joe Clark on Friday:

"We have received word from JCP&L that we are looking at about 3-4 hours for power restoration. Conditions are difficult - trees are down, lines are down, and there is some ponding on the roads, which is subsiding.

"Our DPW has done all they can do right now in terms of clearing trees. Others entities are also responding to the emergency. JCP&L is working to clear trees tangled in power lines, while the State DOT is working on Route 9.

"Our Police Department has officers stationed in dangerous areas, so please watch for their lights if you are traveling.

"Our Township DPW is on call this evening in case the weather turns for the worse again," Clark said in the advisory.

Earlier, as of 4 p.m. there was drizzle and clouds - but some blue patches were starting to appear, Gasior said.

JCP&L spokesman Chris Hoenig said there are multiple trees and wires down throughout town.

Hoenig said that, overall in Central Jersey, there are about 5,000 customers without power.

Crews are out assessing damage now and making repairs. All crews are being held beyond their regular shifts, Hoenig said.

There is a tree down and wires down on Route 9 south, south of West Farms Road. Gasior said that was by Ice Cream on 9.

There is tree damage in the West Farms Road and Casino Drive area as well, Hoenig said.

"There are several pockets of outages," Hoenig said, "not all one outage."

Gasior himself was without power and has been told power may be restored by 5 p.m.

"It seems like Interstate 195 is the dividing line," he said, referring to north of I-195.

Gasior said schools were on a half day and he did not think school bus transportation was affected.