Fierce storms knock out power to around 200K utility customers at the Shore

More than 200,000 utility customers are without power at the Jersey Shore early Monday evening following a line of severe thunderstorms. 

A file photo of clouds associated with a severe thunderstorm passing over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from Seaside Park. (Ben Currie)

A file photo of clouds associated with a severe thunderstorm passing over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from Seaside Park. (Ben Currie)

Update: In a statement, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said that full power restoration could take up to “several days” due to the severity of the storms.

More than 200,000 utility customers are without power at the Jersey Shore early Monday evening following a line of severe thunderstorms.

At 7:25 p.m., just shy of 120,000 are without power throughout Monmouth County, with nearly the entirety of the municipalities of Manasquan, Sea Girt, Spring Lake, and Spring Lake Heights impacted by the outage, according to the Jersey Central Power & Light outage map.

In Ocean County, around 65,000 are in the dark at 7:25 p.m., with Bay Head, Jackson, and Point Pleasant Beach nearly completely without power.

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Downed poles, trees and wires were reported throughout the region as the storms moved through early Monday evening. The National Weather Service was warning of wind gusts up to 80 mph. The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office urged people to stay off the roads due to dangerous conditions.

No restoration times were available as of 7:45 p.m.

Atlantic City Electric is reporting minimal outages throughout its service area.

This is a developing story.

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