The wave of thunderstorms that swept through New Jersey Sunday night moved quickly but packed a powerful punch, with wind gusts as strong as 74 mph
The wave of thunderstorms that swept through New Jersey Sunday night moved quickly but packed a powerful punch, with wind gusts as strong as 74 miles per hour wreaking havoc in Camden and Gloucester counties, and heavy downpours dropping more than an inch of rain in a short time span in Bergen, Hudson, Sussex, and Warren.
The strong winds toppled large trees across the state -- including one that fell on a house in Rutherford in Bergen County and 20 that fell in a three-block area of South Plainfield in Middlesex County -- and knocked out power to about 24,000 homes and businesses in South Jersey.
As of 6:45 a.m. Monday, Atlantic City Electric had about 900 customers in Gloucester and Salem counties still without power, and Public Service Electric & Gas reported about 600 homes in Medford Lakes remained without power, with scattered outages in Haddon Heights and Marlton, as well as New Brunswick and Paterson.
In addition to utility crews working to get all the power restored on Monday, homeowners and tree-cutting workers will be busy cleaning up downed trees, tree limbs and other debris.
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In the Camden County town of Atco, several large tree limbs fell onto a van, and a gazebo was lifted and moved three feet, breaking apart, the National Weather Service said. No injuries were reported.
About 11 miles away, in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, the strongest winds across the state were reported, with a gust of 74 mph detected shortly after 6 p.m. as a line of thunderstorms swept across the region from eastern Pennsylvania.
In Gloucester County, wind gusts were estimated at 60 to 70 mph in the Williamstown area, and 65 mph in Clayton. Large trees were uprooted in both of those towns as well as in other parts of Gloucester, including Mullica Hill, Sewell, Swedesboro and West Deptford, the weather service reported.
Trees and large branches also were blown down to the ground in Fredon in Sussex County, Wayne in Passaic County, Holmdel in Monmouth County and Pennsville in Salem County, the weather service said.
Among the other strong winds across the state were a gust of 60 mph in Hackensack in Bergen County.
While the winds were very strong and the tree damage was widespread, there were no reports of any funnel clouds or wind rotation during the storms, said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional office in Mount Holly.
"We didn't have any indication of rotation on radar, and so far all of the images we saw of tree damage appears to be straight-line wind damage," Johnson said.
Top rainfall totals
Although the storms didn't last long, they brought much-needed rain to the northern region of the state, which has had a large rainfall deficit the past few months.
The highest rainfall totals reported Sunday night were 1.58 inches in Wantage in Sussex County, 1.46 inches in High Point in Sussex, 1.15 inches in Caldwell in Essex County, 1.13 inches in Pequest in Warren County, 1.11 inches in Teterboro in Bergen County, 1.06 inches in Hackettstown in Warren, and 1.01 inches in Jersey City in Hudson County.
Silver lining
Despite all the tree damage and power outages, the storms had one silver lining. As the clouds started moving away, the sun began to break through, making for some scenic sunsets and a rainbow in parts of the region.
These are among the photos that documented the sky colors on Twitter Sunday night:
In Belmar, local photographer and business owner Bill McKim captured this shot of the sky after the storms moved out.
. @njsnowfan @LeeGoldbergABC7 @JimCantore @Brian4NY"#brilliant #sunset #rainbows-2695" pic.twitter.com/hUK3oTmMjp
-- Bill Mckim (@belmardays) June 6, 2016
A double rainbow over the Jersey Shore.
Storm gives way to double rainbow off JerseyShore @NBCNewYork @JSHurricaneNews @GarySzatkowski @belmardays pic.twitter.com/WHmiG2l98k
-- Brian Thompson (@brian4NY) June 6, 2016
Another double rainbow over the Jersey Shore
OK, who caught the double rainbow tonight? Great photo by @ThomasPCostello #shoresummer pic.twitter.com/F1VNcSYJ0V
-- Asbury Park Press (@AsburyParkPress) June 6, 2016
Double rainbow spotted in Belmar.
#jersey @kurtsiegelin @AmyFreeze7 @AccuWxBeck "#brilliant #sunset #rainbows-2661" https://t.co/9FcqCNXVwK pic.twitter.com/uY311a0fd5
-- Bill Mckim (@belmardays) June 6, 2016
The sky over Edison was ominous, then colorful.
Mother Nature was VERY pretty today! WOW! pic.twitter.com/3rfelaMPx9
-- Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) June 6, 2016
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality. Find NJ.com on Facebook.