Kathy Karinja of Rumson takes a photo of the flattened gazebo at Victory Park. The bandstand at the center of the park was spared.
A thunderstorm that tore through The Green Saturday afternoon pummeled the Oceanic section of Rumson while leaving nearby towns wet but relatively unscathed.
A falling limb punched a hole in the roof of the fellowship hall at the First Presbyterian Church of Rumson. At Victory Park, a downed branch showed signs of a lightning hit.
At Victory Park, the Navesink River beach gazebo was flattened, though an abandoned beach chair nearby appeared undisturbed. Tree limbs and downed wires littered streets and yards.
A large, downed tree limb near the corner of Bingham and East River Road, next to the First Presbyterian Church, showed appeared to have been charred by lightning, as did at least one other near the center of Victory Park. The bandstand at the park appeared to be undamaged.
“Of course, we could hear it coming,” said Kathy Karinja, of Lafayette Street, “but then it started pouring, and the wind really picked up. It was scary. I’ve seen hurricanes before, but this was scary.”
“It came down the river like a wall,” a Rumson police officer said.
Joan Murphy of Park Place, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, came out to inspect the site.
“I could hear the small branches in my back yard beginning to snap, and then the larger ones,” she said. “It was strong, like a min-tornado.”
