Wells Mills County Park Reopens After Clearing Hundreds Of Trees

WARETOWN, NJ — Ending a nearly weeklong closure, Wells Mills County Park reopened Thursday after park officials cleared hundreds of uprooted trees from walking trails.

According to the National Weather Service, an EF-1 tornado touched down in the park during the storm on July 29. Fueled by peak 105 mph winds, the storm knocked down large trees in the park and damaged playground equipment.

Read more: Drone Video Shows Storm Damage At Wells Mills County Park

“Miraculously, even though trees fell down around the building, none of the buildings were hurt,” said Mike Mangum, director of Ocean County Parks and Recreation. “It was a miracle that we didn’t have a lot more damage.”

While an exact number has not been determined, Mangum said “hundreds and hundreds” of trees were toppled in the storm with many still down in the forest areas of Wells Mills County Park and Cedar Bridge Tavern in Barnegat. Far more trees were toppled near the historic tavern, but not near the building which allowed park officials to keep it open following the storm.

Crews were brought in from other departments of the Ocean County Parks system to help clear the trails and have been working every day since the storm on Thursday night.

Removing the snapped trees can be dangerous work, according to Mangum. To remove hanging tree limbs as high as 20 feet off the ground, crews had to work out of bucket trucks.

Though bucket trucks could not reach most of the damaged trees in Wells Mills County Park since they tower beyond 20 feet. Experienced tree removers had to carefully lower those limbs and branches down.

“It was a big undertaking and we’re still working on it. We’re going to be working on it for a while, but the park is reopened as of today,” Mangum said.

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