Thunderstorm Blasts Toms River, Knocks Out Power

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A strong thunderstorm packing wind gusts of 60 mph left more than 23,000 homes in Toms River without power on Wednesday, authorities said.

But service was being restored fairly quickly. As of 4 p.m., fewer than 150 homes remained without service, according to the Jersey Central Power & Light website.

The National Weather Service said a severe thunderstorm was seen on radar over Whiting in Manchester Township about 1:40 p.m. and was moving through the area at 15 mph. It had gusts of 60 mph recorded. There were multiple reports of trees and wires down across the area, the weather service said.

Initial reports from JCP&L about 2 p.m. said there were more than 46,000 homes in Ocean County knocked out of service, including the 23,000 homes in Toms River. But many of those homes were brought back online with 15 minutes. The county outages were reduced to 9,800 as of 2:45 p.m.

Nearby, nearly all of Island Heights was without power, with 903 homes listed as out on the JCP&L outage map. That service was back as of 2:45 p.m.

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