Power Outages, Downed Trees In South Jersey Following Storm Saturday Morning

Widespread power outages that were being reported throughout South Jersey Saturday morning are almost fully restored, with just PSE&G customers in Camden County still left in the dark as of 10:30 a.m. The outages came following a storm that brought straight line winds and heavy rain, and knocked down trees throughout the region.

In Camden County, over 800 PSE&G customers were still in the dark as of late Saturday morning, but many of the outages were created by the electric company to help Camden County crews working to clear roads in the area.

A Flash Flood Warning issued earlier in the morning had expired. The following images are of downed trees and the ensuing cleanup in Gloucester Township.

“At this time, we’ve had some trees come down across roadways, on top of homes and cars, but based on our assessment know one seems to have been hurt,” Camden County Freeholder Jonathan Young, liaison to the Camden County Office of Emergency Management, said late Saturday morning. “Right now our OEM has personnel on the ground working with municipal officials to assess the total damage in the area. The worst of this storm seemed to be localized to the northern end of the county effecting Collingswood and Haddon Township.”

The Camden County Department of Public Works has been on the job since 7 a.m., as crews started removing trees from Atco Avenue in Waterford. As of noon, they were working on trees across county roads adjacent to Newton Lake in Collingswood on both Lakeshore Drive and Bettlewood Avenue.

Prior to the department being able to remove all trees the power utility, PSE&G, as is the case in Collingwood, needs to shut off and confirm power has been cut to the lines that are entangled amongst the fallen debris to ensure the safety of the county's tree crews.

“Crews are working as quickly as possible to get trees cleared,” Camden County Freeholder Susan Shin-Angulo, liaison to the county Department of Public Works, said. “The department has been diligently working since the early morning clearing debris from county roadways and right of ways. As long as the power utility clears crews to work in a timely manner we should have all county streets open by early afternoon.”

Parks Department crews are surveying damage from the storm throughout the county’s extensive park system. Late Saturday morning, work was being done at Cooper River, Newton Lake and Haddon Lake Park to ensure walking paths are clear and potential hazards created by the storm are removed.

To report concerns on Camden County roadways, call 856-566-2980 or visit www.camdencounty.com.

Do you have any photos from this morning's storm you'd like to share? Send them to Anthony.Bellano@patch.com and we'll share them on Patch.

Patch file photo