Two tornadoes hit New Jersey overnight during Tropical Storm Elsa, officials said

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While most New Jersey residents slept Friday, two hurricanes caused by Tropical Storm Elsa hit Cape May and Ocean counties, the National Weather Service announced.

The service said the first EF-1 had peak winds of 100 mph, and it occurred in Woodbine around 2:40 a.m. and lasted about two minutes.

The tornado struck near the entrance to the Ocean World Condominium complex, uprooting two cedar trees, destroying a picnic shelter in the complex’s garden area and spreading debris consisting of skeletal remains and patio furniture hundreds of feet away, according to a statement from the National. weather service. She added that the roof of the shelter broke and fell into a nearby swimming pool.

No one was hurt as the tornado rolled through the area and into another nearby residential section before ending near the intersection of Heilprin Street and Ocean Drive, cutting down part of a pine tree on a house.

A second tornado, an EF-0 with peak winds of 80 mph, landed at 3:33 a.m. along Sycamore Drive at Little Egg Harbor and snapped up several large tree limbs and trees along the street.

The service said the hurricane damaged some nearby homes before ending up in Vista Square, where some trees were cut or removed from their roots.

Sycamore Street resident Pat Punansingar told NJ Advance Media that their home was damaged after a large tree fell on it. I took out the chimney of the house and a tree branch came out across the roof.

Punansingar said the storm passed over the area in about ten minutes and the winds sounded like a freight train.

“It was terrifying,” Bonansingar said.

Workers from Leonardo Contracting repair a damaged roof at a home on Sycamore Road in the town of Little Egg Harbor from a possible hurricane caused by Tropical Storm Elsa, Friday, July 9, 2021. Several trees were uprooted and branches were cut during the storm around 3:30 a.m., as residents described Hear a sound like a freight train. Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Med

Another area surveyed by the National Weather Service for the possibility of a hurricane was Somers Point. However, the survey team concluded that no one had occurred and that the damage that occurred there shortly before 3 a.m. was due to strong winds from a rain band from Elsa.

The service said the winds, which gusted at up to 100 miles per hour, snapped seven wooden power poles along Longport Boulevard at Somers Point. There was no other noticeable damage nearby and the poles all fell in the same direction.

The Weather Service issued three tornado warnings for New Jersey early Friday morning, based on wind rotation observed on radar.

While the tropical storm did not make landfall in the Garden State, it was broad enough to generate torrential rain and strong winds, especially in the eastern parts of the state.

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Chris Sheldon can be reached at [email protected].

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