Thousands lose power in NJ following strong thunderstorms

🌧️Over 90,000 power customers were without power as the storms ended

🌧️Trees landed on several houses across the state

🌧️Flights in-and-out of Newark Liberty International Airport were canceled

Thunderstorms along a cold front that crossed New Jersey Wednesday night left nearly 100,000 customers without power at one point.

There were two rounds of heavy rain and gusty winds that brought down a number of trees and wires, and relief from high humidity, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

A wind gust of 52 mph was recorded in Columbus in Burlington County and half-inch hail was reported in Westampton, according to the National Weather Service. The city of Bayonne Office of Emergency Management reported “hundreds” of wires and tree limbs down across the city. Park Ridge police told NJ.com that a tree crashed through a home on Park Avenue.

"New Jersey is no stranger to violent thunderstorms in the summertime. Yesterday's atmosphere was all charged up, a hot and humid sponge which helps fuel the torrential downpours and strong straight-line winds that blew through the state," Zarrow said. "Summer is severe thunderstorm season in the Garden State. And it is no coincidence that July and August are, on average, our wettest months of the year."

ALSO READ: NJ weather: Storms and humidity go away until the weekend

Thousands without power

As of 8 a.m. over 61,000 JCP&L and PSE&G customers were still without power, according to their respective online outage maps.

• JCP&L reported 55,137 customers without power mostly in Hunterdon (Holland, Lebanon Township & Tewksbury), Morris, Ocean and Warren counties
• PSE&G has over 6,013 customers without power mostly in Bergen, Burlington, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.

Restoration should be completed during the day Thursday, according to both outage maps.

The Ocean County Sheriff's Office reported that outages have affected AT+T 5G LTE service. Cell phones may not be able to call 911 as a result.

The storms also impacted Newark Liberty International Airport with 16 departures and 32 arrivals canceled Thursday morning, according to FlightAware.com. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail is suspended because of downed trees.

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