30,000 Still Without Power Friday Morning In Monmouth County

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — As of 8 a.m. Friday, there are nearly 30,000 customers in Monmouth County who don't have electricity after powerful thunderstorms moved through the region Thursday night, amidst reports of what some residents say looked and felt like tornadoes.

Traffic lights are not working on Rt. 34 and other main roads Friday morning, and North Jersey Coast line trains are also not running. This is due to fallen trees on the tracks.

"North Jersey Coast Line rail service continues to be suspended in both directions due to downed trees on the wires and tracks near Middletown caused by severe storms," said NJ Transit in a statement on its website. "NJ Transit tickets and passes are being cross honored by NJ Transit bus and private carriers."

There were also reports of live wires down on roadways Thursday night and live wires still down Friday morning in Monmouth County.

"I swear we had a tornado. That was effing nuts!" one Matawan resident wrote on Facebook Thursday night. "I have never seen the sky that color. It was hanging over the area by the train station (right were we live). All of a sudden the wind started for a few minutes and then sky was greenish for a minute and then the rain started. Black as night! Crazy!"

A total of 29,903 customers are without electricity Friday morning, according to Jersey Central Power & Light's outage map. JCP&L has not given a restoration time. The pockets with the highest number of outages are in Matawan, Aberdeen, Holmdel around Bayshore Medical Center and the area surrounding Big Brook Park in Marlboro Township.

A total of 107,000 Monmouth County residents lost electricity in the thunderstorms Thursday night, which JCP&L said were "intense" and brought many trees down onto power lines. Thousands of Monmouth County residents have been without electricity for more than 10 hours now. Here is where you can get free water and ice from JCP&L; find locations here: http://spr.ly/6012RTAJa.

JCP&L said on their Facebook page they expect to have power for the final Monmouth County customers restored by late Friday morning.

"The vast majority of customers will be restored in advance of this time," said the electric company. "We understand any outage is frustrating, and even more so in the heat. We appreciate your patience as our crews work as fast as safely possible to get the lights and A/C back on."

Thursday night: Boy Struck By Lightning In Central Park, Officials Say