Red Bank resident Robert Bruce shot this video of a power line arcing over a parking lot at the Red Bank Train Station early Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday’s wind-driven storm left downtown Sea Bright closed to traffic and without electricity, police Chief John Sorrentino tells redbankgreen.
Residents of the west end of New Street were displaced from their homes when a trio of utility poles came down in the storm, and a woman estimated to be in her early 20s went to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after suffering an electrical shock, Sorrentino said.
Power may not be restored until Friday, he said.
“I just spoke to JCP&L, and it looks like we’re looking at mid-Friday” for a full restoration of power, Sorrentino said.
A temporary shelter was set up in the town recreation center, with Red Cross personnel on hand to give assistance to “four or five families” displaced from their homes on and near New Street,, Sorrentino said. Additional families are expected as people return home from work.
Ocean Avenue in the heart of the borough was closed because the next pole after the series that came down is on the opposite side of the street. As of 4:15p, vehicles were being allowed across the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, but none are allowed to head south into town.
“The best we can do is to turn them around at this point,” Sorrentino said, adding that he hopes to reopen the main street sometime this evening.
Unlike past storms, this one caused “no flooding,” Sorrentino said. “There’s a first.”
While strong winds are expected tonight, they’re not expected to coincide with high tides, but officials remain cautious about the possibility of flooding, he said.
Red Bank, meanwhile was largely spared the hit of the storm. One live wire was reported, arcing above a parking lot at the train station, said Captain Darren McConnell. But otherwise, “there were no incidents,” he tells redbankgreen.
“We had a couple of wires down, but no accidents and no injuries,” he said.
New Jersey Transit issued a notice that commuters should expect delays of “up to 60 minutes” on the North Jersey Coast Line linking Manhattan with Red Bank and points south.
