N.J. Blizzard: Lacey Storm Updates: Minor Flooding From Second High Tide

Lacey Township escaped the storm with only minor street flooding in the lowest areas along the bayfront along Beach Boulevard, Police Chief David A. Paprota said.

The next high tide will be at 10:52 a.m. in Forked River, the chief said in a very early morning update.

By midnight, less than 100 homes throughout the township remained without power. JCP&L had crews assigned to each outage with the expectation that all outages would be restored during the overnight hours, the chief said.

Roads will be slippery since the snowfall continued past the time plow operators could reasonable work to clear the roads, Paprota said.

Residents should avoid driving if possible. The stopping areas leading up to intersections will be extremely slippery intersections making stopping at stop signs and traffic lights very difficult.

Earlier posts from Saturday:

Lacey’s waterfront sections got through the first high tide of the blizzard without major problems this morning, but tonight’s high tide may be more of a problem, Police Chief David A. Paprota said.

“The next high tide cycle will peak at 10:36 p.m. and is anticipated to present more of an issue for the low-lying areas along the bay than we have experienced to this point,” the chief said.

Lacey can expect high wind gusts and blizzard conditions to continue throughout the afternoon and evening. Winds may increase during the afternoon, which could bring more trees and power lines down, Paprota said.

“The roadways are extremely dangerous and must remain clear of unnecessary vehicles to allow plows to operate and emergency services to attend to ongoing emergency calls-for-service,” the chief said.

Prolonged power outages have occurred in Laurel Boulevard area in Lanoka Harbor and the Pensacola Road and Orlando Drive area in Forked River. JCP&L says crews are assigned to conduct the repairs and restore power to both areas as well as the spotty outages elsewhere in the township, Paprota said in his early evening update..

The township emergency services continue to respond to trees down throughout the township as well as low-hanging and downed wires. Residents are reminded to be extremely cautious and not to touch any downed wires.

Public works will through the night to clear roadways. No vehicles may be left in or along roadways to make plowing easier. Expect that the plows will leave a berm of snow across the end of driveways as they push the snow from and along the roadways.

Residents are asked to check on their neighbors who may be vulnerable and advise the police department if any concerns arise.There are scattered power outages and Jersey Central Power and Light ground crews are working to restore power from the ground level. But full repairs can’t be made until the winds die down, he said.

Lacey’s emergency services have been able to handle incidents without any delay so far, since plow crews are leading them to locations.

The Ocean County Sheriff’s Department says roads are impassable in much of the county.

Ocean County College is closed.

The National Weather Service is reporting that Lacey had received seven inches of snow as of 11:30 a.m.