Storms in NJ: Water spouts, floods, power outage at Great Adventure

Strong thunderstorms Monday afternoon created two two water spouts, dropped hail the size of ping-pong balls and brought rides at Six Flags Great Adventure to a halt.

The severe weather included areas of 4-inch rainfall and wind gusts as high as 66 mph in Berkeley, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow. Zarrow said clouds on Tuesday will limit sunshine that would have fired up more thunderstorms, although they are still possible.

The waterspouts formed several hours apart off Stone Harbor, according to the Press of Atlantic City.  A waterspout is a tornado that forms over water or moves from land to water, according to the NWS.

A funnel cloud was also reported over Folsom in Atlantic County. The National Weather Service reported large hail in Edison and Hamilton.

A two-minute loss of power at Great Adventure in Jackson at 12:30 p.m. shut down the rides. Spokeswoman Kristen Fitzgerald said all rides were eventually reopened as some smaller rides can quickly be restarted while others require more extensive safety checks and take longer.

The outage originated at JCP&L's Cookstown station and the utility is working to correct the issue, Fitzgerald said.

The heavy rain led to a flooded section of Route 287 in Morristown near exit 36, as seen in a picture posted to the Reddit website.

NJ Transit’s Morris & Essex Line was shut after a large tree fell onto the overhead wires west of Summit. Another tree caused service on the Atlantic City Line to be suspended Monday afternoon.

Hackensack firefighters rescued at least 17 people on Monday from flooded cars, and a multi-vehicle crash on Anderson Street.

Taking Care of Business: Wednesday at 7 p.m., Eric Scott leads a discussion on how to support businesses — and how they can keep you safe as they reopen in the pandemic. Listen on New Jersey 101.5 FM, the NJ 101.5 app or NJ1015.com, and join the discussion in real time at Facebook.com/NJ1015.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

More from New Jersey 101.5: