N.J. hit with ping pong ball-sized hail and flooding after heavy downpour

Route 287 in Morristown flooded on July 6, 2020.

Heavy storms flooded Route 287 in Morristown on July 6, 2020. (Credit: Reddit user spoon_master)Reddit user spoon_master

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Strong thunderstorms packing heavy rain and large hail swept across New Jersey Monday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a series of flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings.

The entire state was under a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 p.m. Monday night, with lightning possible scattered wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour in some areas.

The heaviest hit parts of the state were Atlantic County, southwestern Burlington County and parts of Morris County, where rainfall totals were between 2 and 3 inches and there were reports of stranded vehicles, said Trent Davis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

Heavy rain inundated roads across the state, turning them into mini-rivers.

Video posted to social media showed flooded residential streets in Morristown, Morris County and Clifton, Passaic County, as well as part of Route 287 in North Jersey. Davis said part of the Philadelphia metro area was under a flash flood emergency, with a number of water rescues reported.

“It’s a good way to see how we tell people not to drive in flooded roadways. Yesterday was a pretty good example of that. We don’t want you to be added to the statistics of water rescues,” Davis said.

There were also reports of ping-pong-ball sized hail in Hamilton Township, Mercer County and Toms River, Ocean County. Parts of Middlesex County, particularly Edison, were hardest hit by hail. Hail of that size in the summer is unusual due to the warm weather, Davis said.

“It tends to be harder to get large hail for us in the middle of summer because it’s so much warmer. It tends to be more (common) in the early to late spring when the atmosphere lower to the ground hasn’t warmed up as much. We can usually see hail in the summer, but that size is pretty impressive,” Davis said.

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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.

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