Two crashes, thousands of power outages in Ocean County

Two car crashes involving utility poles within a matter of hours in Ocean County results in serious injuries and a significant cutoff of electricity.

In Toms River, a crash around 11 AM tied up Water Street from the Parkway to Dock Street. Police rerouted traffic off Water Street and blocked several sidestreets south of Route 37.

Police on scene said that the driver sustained minor injuries. The car was perpendicular to the eastbound side of Water Street, with severe front-end damage at point of impact.

Jersey Central Power and Light's outage map repored  about 315 customers in Toms River in the dark, and restored them within about an hour.

In Manchester, power's for about 4,000 ratepayers in the Whiting section returned before noon after several hours of repairs.

A car rammed a pole on Route 539 near Cherry Street earlier in the morning. The crash closed that portion of the highway. Police there gave no indication of how long the closure would remain in effect.

We will have more information about these two incidents throughout the day.