NJ Transit said the Morris & Essex Line was suspended “until further notice” due to severe damage to power structures. Tracie Strahan reports.
Severe storms featuring damaging wind gusts topping 60 mph swept through the tri-state area Monday night — after a second straight day with temperatures about 20 to 25 degrees above average.
More than 34,000 utility customers were still without power in the tri-state as of 5 a.m. Tuesday, and one of NJ Transit's busiest lines was suspended indefinitely after a centuries-old tree fell and crushed crucial power infrastructure.
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A tree fell onto NJ Transit tracks in Maplewood, along the Morris and Essex line, which also took out the catenary system over the tracks. NJT tweeted early Tuesday that service was suspended "until further notice" on the line, which is home to four of NJT's top 20 stations by passenger volume.
The transit agency said on Wednesday that the Morris & Essex line would continue to run on a modified schedule through Friday, adding that additional schedule modifications could come for the weekend as well.
Service on the Gladstone branch will remain suspended until further notice, NJ Transit said.
Multiple trees and wires were reported down in Morris and Warren counties, as well as in New York's Dutchess, Orange and Westchester counties. As of midnight, there were nearly 30,000 customers without power throughout the tri-state, most of which were in New York, where the central Hudson Valley saw the most outages.
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In New York City, a tree fell onto a home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and large tree branches were reported down on Staten Island.
There was not much in terms of widespread lightning, and there were no threats of hail, flash flooding or tornadoes, with straight-line winds producing the biggest threat for damage.
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The strongest winds generally were north or west of the city, as the storms lessened while heading east, although Brooklyn College reported a wind gust of nearly 60 mph.
The weather pattern was more typical for late spring or summer than for early March. Monday temperatures initially weren't forecast to break daily records, but they trended higher than expected. Central Park and Newark both tied their respective highs of 74 and 75 degrees, each set in 1946, while LaGuardia smashed its daily record for March 7 with a temp of 74 degrees by 2 p.m.
We're back to another dry and chilly Tuesday, with temperatures falling back below 50. Wednesday features similar weather -- with a chance for rain or snow showers or both, depending on temperatures.
Temps rebound slightly above 50 by Friday but the tri-state area is looking at a messy week of precipitation with temperatures expected to hover between the mid-40s and low 50s through the end of the workweek, at least.
Track any approaching storms using our interactive radar here.
