Headlines from Atlantic City area regarding wind damage

[Stephanie]

Winds topple poles, trees, power lines
By MARK TYLER Staff Writer, (609) 272-7238, E-Mail

Motorists abandoned five vehicles in the middle of Delilah Road during a storm early Wednesday when poles and live wires carrying 69,000 volts of power came crashing down around them between Franklin Boulevard and the Route 30 bridge in Pleasantville.

Strong wind gusts snapped in half a string of 65-foot tall, 20-inch thick, 1-ton utility poles just after midnight during a thunderstorm that forced a shutdown of one of the major roads leading into Atlantic City.

Throughout the region - including at the Absecon Shores section of Absecon - people dealt with downed trees. A Cumberland County family had a tree crash into their home in the room where their children were sleeping.

The straight winds up to 75 mph caused more damage than seasoned police and emergency-management officials throughout Atlantic County said they have ever dealt with.

"I've been through nor'easters, hurricanes, monsoons, all kinds of storms, and I've never seen anything like this," Pleasantville Police Chief Russell Whaley said as he, other local officials and the Atlantic County Emergency Management coordinator assessed damage along Delilah Road around 11 a.m.

A black Ford Explorer, a pickup truck and a gray Pontiac Grand Am headed into Atlantic City stopped just a few feet short of broken telephone poles on Delilah Road. More fallen poles lay behind them. Transmission, distribution, telephone and cable lines created a web around the empty vehicles. A tan Ford Taurus and a gold Honda Accord headed toward Pleasantville also got caught between poles.

There were no reported injuries.

"They're lucky," Whaley said.

Officials usually advise people to stay in their cars when live wires come down.

The roadway remained closed from Main Street to Route 30 on the Pleasantville side Wednesday night. The bridge leading into town from Atlantic City also was closed. It was unclear how long the cleanup would take, Pleasantville Emergency Management Coordinator Deron Smith and county coordinator Vincent J. Jones III said.

"This is not going to happen overnight," Smith said. "This will be out (of service) for a couple of days."

Electric service to the American Red Cross and the Marina Del Rey condominium complex in Pleasantville went out, leaving most in the area using flashlights, burning candles and trying to figure out what they would do with refrigerators full of food.

But Tim Hood, 40, of the condominiums praised God because he had just driven down the street, went inside his home and sat down when he heard the poles start to snap.

"If it took me five minutes more to come down that street I would have been in it like that car," Hood said of one car stranded nearby. "God is so good. It was pouring down rain and the wind was gushing. These two poles snapped first and the weight pulled down the others."

Conectiv spokeswoman Betty Kennedy said 187 customers in the immediate area lost power. But by 6 p.m., 184 of them were back in service after work crews set up a temporary distribution line. Three homes will be without power until the permanent poles are replaced, Kennedy said.

"The most important thing is that no one is injured and everybody goes home safe at the end of the day," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said 38,000 customers throughout southern New Jersey lost power throughout the eight counties served, which include Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties.

"By this morning, we had all but about 2,000 back," Kennedy said.

Meanwhile, homeowners in the Absecon Shores community struggled with mass destruction of their own.

Michael Reynolds, of Wynnewood Drive, was channel surfing after midnight when the lights and television went off. He couldn't get the power back on. Then he heard the wind picking up.

"It sounded like a freight train," Reynolds said.

A tree fell.

"It penetrated the roof and attic," Reynolds said. "I looked out my front door and all I could see was a tree."

Reynolds took his family out the back door where a maple tree had been uprooted and pine trees had been snapped in half. When he got around front, he saw other neighbors on their lawns looking over damage to their properties.

"I'm sleeping. It's like 12:15 (a.m.) My husband gets home and says he's going to go shave," April Elias said. "He comes back and says get up, get the kids and get out."

Then their power went out.

"We hear this huge, massive sound," Elias said. "In the front sunroom, trees were against the windows. When we came outside the sirens were going off, the police were outside and there's damage to our roof."

Absecon Police Chief Charles J. Smith said Wednesday afternoon that there was substantial damage to four homes, the Home Depot and the Art Merrill Marine sales and service center on Route 30.

At Home Depot, the large rear doors were ripped off their hinges and air conditioning units were blown from the roof. The roof at Art Merrill was blown into the rear lot where boats are stored. There was also water damage to the showroom floor.

"We're fortunate," Smith said. "We had no injuries."

In that respect, the storm was much the same in Atlantic City, according to police spokesman Sgt. Michael Tullio. He said trees and utility poles came down but there also were no injuries. Linwood, Northfield and other municipalities also had downed trees.

Tilton Road between Zion Road and Route 9 in Northfield will be closed until late today or possibly Friday as utility crews clean up damage from the storm.

[JCT777]

That wind yesterday was pretty nasty. I had to search the neighborhood last night to find my recycling bin (which had blown about 1/2 a block away). Plus some people I work with told me they had large branches and trees on their properties get damaged by the wind. :o

[Pburgh]

Stephanie, I hope everything's ok where you are. Did you make it to work today??

[Stephanie]

Getting to work was no problem. It's eerie though because I know in one of my posts yesterday I mentioned how the wind was howling and whipping around. It almost sounded like what most people here when a tornado it coming - a freight train. I say that because I was waiting for something to come flying down the street from a building. It was LOUD. :o So, when I heard about what happened only about 5 - 10 miles away, I can now feel justified by what I felt in Atlantic City.

Did you experience any delays on your way to work today Karan? Is there anymore news from those areas?

[Pburgh]

It is pretty scary when you're so close to something like that. I'm glad you didn't have any problems.

I drive south to get to work. All the damage was north of me so I had no problems. All the power and gas are back on and they're busy cleaning up. I think everyone is out of the hospital. The 3 women that were in the trailer that rolled across the parking lot and crashed into a building were injured the worst, but they're recovering well. Several homes were completely destroyed. So sad.

[Stephanie]

I'm glad to hear that those people are recovering Karan!

[PTrackerLA]

That is so impressive damage from straight line winds. I'm glad that no one was hurt, take care!

[breeze]

That was scary, I'm sure, Steph! That freight-train
sound is what most folks attribute to a tornado,
though, having heard a twister blowing by, I
most closely relate it to the sound of loudly squealing pigs!
(*strange, I know!)