Strong Thunderstorms Rattle Ocean, Monmouth Counties Saturday

A line of severe thunderstorms that moved through Ocean County on Saturday afternoon sent two women to the hospital and caused several small power outages, according to authorities.

The National Weather Service's Mount Holly office initially issued a severe thunderstorm warning shortly after 2 p.m. after a strong thunderstorm popped up in southwestern New Jersey and began moving northeast across the state.

The warning resulted in beaches up and down Ocean County ordering swimmers out of the water and off the sand for safety. In Point Pleasant Beach, two women were struck by lightning as they were leaving the beach in the wake of the order. Both are expected to survive, police said.

Take a look at this time-lapse video of the storm as it moved into the area, by Joe Slezak:

In Brick Township, a home in the Herbertsville section was struck by lightning. A resident of the home said no one was injured and a small fire sparked by the strike was quickly extinguished.

Lightning also struck a utility pole and a traffic light in Toms River. Police said the utility pole struck was on Oak Avenue, while the traffic light was at Bannanier Avenue and Route 37. The traffic light was back in working order fairly quickly, the watch commander said.

The storm, which the weather service said was packing wind gusts up to 60 mph, brought down tree limbs in some areas. Some weather watchers told the National Weather Service they had pea-sized hail in Brick and in Freehold.

The First Energy outage map showed about 15 small power outages across Ocean and Monmouth counties, affecting fewer than 1,000 customers.

The storm blew up very quickly, and was sustained; the weather service repeatedly extended the initial warning expiration, from 3 p.m. to a final expiration of 6:45 p.m.

The forecast for the rest of the evening and Sunday is calling for scattered thunderstorms and showers continuing until about 7 a.m., then clearing skies and a high of 91 degrees on Sunday afternoon.

Top photo: Clouds from the gathering storm as seen from Barnegat Bay. Photo by Kelly Acquaire Niro, used with permission