Storms bring damaging winds, knock down power lines across Northern New Jersey communities

A tree came crashing down on Pleasant View Drive in Wayne and knocked out power to more than a dozen homes.

News 12 Staff

Jul 1, 2024, 3:12 AM

Updated yesterday

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Another Sunday comprised of summer storms brought damages across Northern New Jersey.
A tree came crashing down on Pleasant View Drive in Wayne and knocked out power to more than a dozen homes.
Neighbors said the impact ripped their power lines right off the sides of their homes.
“It sounded like a tree hit my house, like a thud, like 'Boom.' It ripped it right out of the house," said Wayne resident Steve Warholak. "How quickly it came, it was like, 'That was fast. That was fast.”
Warholak said his neighborhood often sees storm damage and flooding. But the impact at his house this time around was worse than of hurricanes of years past.
“Telephone pole is snapped in half. I said, ‘That’s why the power is out,’" he recalled. "There was a fire that was in front of my house from the live wire. Smoldering, going hot.”
The fire was not the only one in Wayne.
A News 12 viewer submitted a video of a live wire igniting the Hamburg Turnpike. Neighbors praised the local response.
“PSE&G, the fire department was here, the police came here to barricade everything off. They were here quick," Warholak said. "[PSE&G] said they were going to try and put in a temporary fix for me, but I’m going to have to get it repaired. I’m just glad nobody was hurt.”
The storm also ripped through Bergen County. A tree took out three cars at a Hackensack apartment complex.
Over in Montclair, News 12 viewers sent photos of a tree that smashed through a McCosh Road home.


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