Region jolted by lightning
08/28/01
By T.A. PARMALEE
Staff Writer
http://www.nj.com/mercer/times
Lightning storms wreaked havoc in the Trenton area yesterday, with bolts hitting several area homes and felling high-voltage wires in Hamilton Township, leading to Route 130 being closed in both directions.
Ray Kruzdlo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, had predicted earlier in the day that the lightning and rain would be "very hit or miss." And he was right on the money.
As Hamilton police and firefighters scrambled from one lightning strike to another, officers in nearby Ewing said it was "slow" and called the lightning "beautiful."
As the storm raged in Hamilton, police in Willingboro said the sun was shining, and dispatchers in Bucks County, Pa., alluded only to minor damage. But for some towns, yesterday's lightning was no pretty picture.
The major problem in Hamilton was when lightning apparently struck power lines at Route 130 and Klockner Road about 3:15 p.m. The lines were "flopping around in the roadway," said Sgt. Ken DeBoskey, and police had to close the busy highway.
On the north side, it was closed from Crosswicks-Hamilton Square Road to Interstate 195. On the south side, traffic was diverted through the Home Depot lot at the corner of Route 130 and Klockner Road, then diverted onto Klockner. Both sides of the road remained closed until after 7 p.m.
"There was no secondary damage, no injuries," DeBoskey said of the incident. "It was just a live wire that was arcing right on the intersection. It was a heavy-duty line."
It took a heavy-duty response from firefighters and officers to get traffic back to normal. DeBoskey said the storm caused multiple accidents. "It's really bad out there," he said.
The Route 130 trouble came on the heels of two other lightning strikes. About 3 p.m., a utility pole at Arena Drive and Reeves Avenue was struck by a bolt that set ablaze both the pole and a transformer.
The township lost power in that intersection's traffic light as well as the light at Arena Drive and Bradford Avenue. Police closed Arena Drive in both directions from Reeves Avenue to Bradford Avenue. It was reopened within a half-hour, police said.
Minutes later, lines at South Broad Street and Parent Avenue, not far from the White Horse Circle, fell "from what was probably a lightning strike," DeBoskey said. "It affected traffic signals all up and down Broad Street."
Neighboring Washington Township also was pummeled by lightning. Several wires were knocked down during the storm. A bolt struck a home in the 1200 block of Old York Road and a put a hole in the roof but did not cause a fire.
After dealing with the lightning strike on Old York Road, Washington volunteer firefighters journeyed to nearby Upper Freehold, where lightning had struck a three-story mansion in the first block of Trotter Way at 6:20 p.m.
The bolt caused flames to ripple through all three floors, and firefighters responded en masse. The blaze, reached at least four alarms and was still burning at press time.
State police with the Hightstown station said one person was home at the mansion when the fire began, but escaped safely. Two ambulances were standing by in case any of the firefighters needed medical assistance.
Two hours before the house fire, lighting struck wires in the 300 block of Clarskburg-Robbinsville Road in Upper Freehold.
Yesterday's rains also did some damage. A trooper from the Hightstown station said last night a single-car accident in the 500 block of Chambers Road was caused by rain.
One woman was sent to the trauma unit at Capital Health System at Fuld hospital in Trenton with an eye injury. A child riding with her was not injured. Their terrier escaped from the car and apparently was in "some sort of shock," a trooper said.
Troopers said the woman's injuries were not life-threatening. Further details of the accident were unavailable.
About 4,000 customers -- mostly in Hamilton, Bordentown, Chesterfield, Washington and Willingboro townships -- lost power when storms hit the region about 3 p.m., said Public Service Electric & Gas Co. spokesman John Griffith.
As of 8 last night, most of those customers had regained power, but PSE&G crews intended to work through the night to make repairs, Griffith said.
Ron Morano, a spokesman for GPU Energy, said numerous lightning strikes hit transmission facilities, but the worst damage was in Ocean County -- "mostly in the Toms River area." He said there might be some scattered customers still without power in Mercer and Burlington counties.
Kruzdlo, the meteorologist, said yesterday's most intense storms hit Ocean and Monmouth counties, but the Trenton area also saw a good deal of lightning.
There was nothing unusual about the storm, Kruzdlo said. He said there were 200 to 400 bolts of lightning over New Jersey every 15 minutes during the storm, he said.
In parts of Ocean County, radar estimated nearly 4 inches of rain fell in an hour, Kruzdlo said. Only about 2 inches fell in an hour over the central part of the state -- and that was when the storm was at its peak, Kruzdlo said.
"This is a typical August day in terms of thunderstorms," Kruzdlo said, "isolated and scattered."