Arthur brings rain, rough surf to New Jersey
Hurricane Arthur is bringing rain and rough surf to New Jersey today as he veers to the north and away from the coastline.
An earlier Flash Flood Watch has been canceled for all of New Jersey but gusty winds are still a threat out of the north at 40 mph with some gusts to 50 mph.
Metoorologist Alan Kasper says the shore seems to so far be getting the most rain. The strongest winds seem to be during downpours; Cape May recorded a wind gust of 41 mph on Friday morning.
The rain and wind will come to an end during the late afternoon making for a beautiful Saturday and Sunday with temperatures in the 80s. Concerns about wind could affect scheduled fireworks displays. Beachwood and Asbury Park have postponed their display until Saturday night along the Toms River. Check our list of displays for updates.
Rough surf and rip currents will remain as Arthur continues his trip away from the coast with very rough surf creating waves and surf of 6-8 feet and beach erosion that will make for strong rip currents all along the shore through the weekend. A High Surf Advisory is in effect for the entire coastline through Saturday afternoon.
Arthur strengthened to a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph Thursday evening before passing over the southern end of the Outer Banks . The storm was moving northeast Friday morning after turning slightly west late Thursday, which increased the threat to mainland communities from flooding, tornadoes and intense winds. It has since weakened to a Category 1 storm.
As of 11 a.m. EDT Friday, Arthur was centered 100 miles east-southeast of Ocean City, Maryland and 300 miles southwest of Chatham, Massachusetts It was moving northeast near 24 mph. The storm has sustained winds of 90 mph.
Another round of strong thunderstorms on Thursday night crossed New Jersey, knocking out power to over 40,000 and dropped 1-3 inches of rain fall in north and central New Jersey with lesser amounts east of the New Jersey Turnpike according to the National Weather Service.
The utility tweeted that 30,000 customers without power on Thursday night have had service "safely restored" and crews are working to restore their remaining customers. 1,165 JCP+L customers were still in the dark early on Friday afternoon according to the utility's outage map, mostly in Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties as of 12noon. Less than 1,000 PSEG customers were without power in outages scattered around its coverage area on its outage map. Atlantic City Electric's outage map shows over 7,000 customers in southern Ocean County who lost power have been restored.
ABC 7 reports that three children between the ages of 7 and 16 were struck by lightning in Green Township in Sussex County.
The State Fair in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands closed down all its rides as the storms rolled in according to the Star-Ledger. A tree fell on a house in Chatham according to CBS New York, which reports that water coming down a hill trapped some commuters inside a NJ Transit station for a time.
MORE COVERAGE:
- Storm slams New Jersey, delays holiday travel plans, knocks out power to thousands / Star-Ledger
- Power restored for 7,484 after Ocean County outage / Asbury Park Press
- Severe Storms Blast Tri-State For Second Night In A Row / CBS New York