11K Without Power As Heavy Snow Brings Down Wires In Ocean County

TOMS RIVER, NJ — More than 11,000 homes were without electricity Thursday as the second round of a nor'easter dropped more than 6 inches of heavy, wet snow on Ocean County, bringing down power lines and making roadways treacherous.

The Ocean County sheriff's office sent a Nixle alert warning motorists to stay off the roads because the falling snow was limiting visibility and pulling wires across roads.

The storm has dropped more than 13 inches of snow in other parts of the state and more than 73,000 homes were without power across the state, power company officials said. Read more here, and full list of towns with power outages: NJ Weather: 13" Of Nor'easter Snow, Downed Lines, 73K No Power

According to the National Weather Service, the heavy bands of snow have deposited more than 6 inches of snow across the county as of 9:40 p.m., with Bayville and Forked River recording the highest totals so far at 13.5 inches, according to trained spotters.

Jersey Central Power & Light was reporting nearly 8,000 customers without power, with nearly 2,700 out in Lacey and more than 1,000 customers without power in both Toms River and Jackson townships. Both Brick and Berkeley townships had nearly 1,000 outages apiece. Atlantic Electric, meanwhile, was reporting 3,700 customers without electricity, with 1,300 in Long Beach Township and more than 1,000 each for Stafford and Eagleswood townships. Neither company had estimates on when power would be fully restored but said they are working as quickly as possible.

School districts across the county had planned on delayed openings on Thursday but several, including Brick, Toms River, Berkeley and Central Regional, changed those delays to closures Wednesday night.

The Ocean County Vocational School District is closed as well.

Snow totals as of 9:40 p.m. according to the National Weather Service:

• Bayville 9.5
• Forked River 9.5
• Berkeley Twp 8.5
• Whiting 8.0
• Waretown 7.5
• Lakewood 7.0
• Manahawkin 7.0
• Toms River 6.5
• Lacey Twp 6.0
• Beachwood 5.5
• Lacey 5.2
• Brick Twp 5.0
• Little Egg Harbor Twp 5.0
• Point Pleasant 1.5

The sheriff posted a video to Facebook showing how bad visibility and conditions were on the Garden State Parkway:

Photos via Ocean County Sheriff's Office show power lines brought down across one road and lines laden with snow in another area.