Some powerful thunderstorms developed early Saturday afternoon, sending beach goers scrambling inland, and leaving thousands across Ocean County in the dark.

Shortly before 1 pm, storms began firing up across eastern Ocean County. As the storms interacted with the sea breeze in the area, they've dumped a lot of rain in parts of the area. In fact, the National Weather Service reports that we've already seen 4" of rain in parts of the area.

Doppler radar indicates that parts of Manahawkin and southern Ocean County have been hit hardest. Flooding has been reported on Route 72 and throughout the area.

As of 2:45 pm this afternoon, Jersey Central Power & Light reported that approximately 5,700 customers were in the dark. Their outage map indicates that most of the outages are centered in parts of Forked River and Toms River.

The website estimates that power should be restored by around 4 pm this afternoon, but more storms are firing up on radar at this point, so repairs could be delayed.

Down in southern Ocean County, reports of outages surged after 2:30 pm on Saturday. Atlantic City Electric reported that about 4,000 customers  were in the dark. The outages appeared to be primarily centered in Beach Haven West, as of 2:45 pm on Saturday.

As a result of the rainfall, the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for much of eastern Ocean County, including Barnegat, Beachwood, Toms River, and more. They say "minor flooding" is possible in the area. "Overflowing poor drainage areas will result in minor flooding in the advisory area." The advisory is in effect until 5:30 pm.

 

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