New Jersey Weather: Severe Storms Knock Down Trees, Rip Off Roofs As Thousands Left Without Power At Jersey Shore
WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) — Severe storms knocked down trees and ripped off roofs as thousands were left without power at the Jersey Shore. A stretch of the Wildwood boardwalk was shredded and an historic hotel was damaged.
The wind showed no mercy on Monday as roofs were torn off and siding was blown away.
At a Sunoco station on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township, the entire structure pancaked onto the gas pumps below. No one was injured.
In Cape May, emergency crews and tree surgeons were on the move all day.
Parts of the roof at historic Congress Hall were ripped off and a column was knocked loose from the structure.
Some who live in the seaside community reached out to Eyewitness News at the height of the storm to say how conditions deteriorated rapidly.
A wind gust in excess of 70 mph was reported off Cape May.
In Wildwood, parts of the boardwalk from Taylor to Rio Grande were shredded from the winds.
Work was underway already in the area near the Wildwood Convention Center, but that activity is now compounded by the damaged leveled by this storm.
A man who lived in a fifth-floor condo in Wildwood said earlier this morning, winds gusted for a sustained amount of time -- as long as 20 seconds when the damage occurred.
He said the wind was driving from the land. The direction has since shifted and is coming from off the ocean
Tree surgeon Ronald Menear, of Menear Enterprises, explained the running around he was doing in Cape May.
"We've got a few of them, oaks and stuff, that are over top of trailers at campgrounds in the local area," Menear said.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew has already asked Gov. Phil Murphy to declare parts of the Jersey Shore a disaster area.
AC Electric says 23,544 customers are without power in Atlantic and Cape May Counties.
