Weather
Homes, Road Flooded, Some Power Outages Reported In Northern Ocean
Heavy rain accompanying severe thunderstorms flooded streets in several towns, prompting warnings from authorities to stay off the roads.
OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — Homes and roads were flooded across northern Ocean County on Tuesday evening in the wake of strong thunderstorms that dumped several inches of rain on the area.
The Ocean County Sheriff's Office was warning drivers to stay off the roads if possible.
"Flooding occurring throughout Ocean County," the sheriff's department said in an alert. "Do not attempt to drive thru the flooded roadways. If you must drive today allow extra time."
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In Toms River, Route 37 had pockets of flooding and the sheriff's department said Irons Street and Herflicker Boulevard downtown were closed due to flooding.
In Lakewood, the Lakewood Scoop reported that dozens of homes were flooded from the deluge of rain and multiple vehicles had gotten stuck in flooded roads. Photos published by the Scoop showed public works employees trying to clear storm drains to relieve flooding.
Find out what's happening in Toms Riverfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In Point Pleasant, police issued an urgent warning for drivers to stay off the roads due to flash flood warnings.
"FLASH FLOOD WARNING! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH WATER! Turn Around Don't Drown! If you do drive through water it is a NO WAKE ZONE," Point Pleasant police said in an alert.
There were about 5,000 homes and businesses without power as of 8 p.m., including more than 3,400 in Jackson and nearly 1,200 out in Toms River. There were scattered outages in other towns as well, according to Jersey Central Power & Light's outage website.
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