What to Know
- Flooding continues to be a concern for the Tuesday morning rush.
- There are also power outages and mass transit problems caused by the storm damage.
- Some showers could linger through the day Tuesday.
Severe thunderstorms with powerful winds, lightning and heavy rain barreled through the Philadelphia region Monday night and early Tuesday, causing damage, tens of thousands of power outages and commuter delays.
Ponding on roadways and localized flooding continued to be a concern Tuesday morning. A First Alert for flooding expired at 7 a.m.
The storms left trees down on some roads and caused problems on mass transit. As of the start of the Tuesday morning commute, PATCO closed the Lindenwold and Ashland stations due to downed wires, while New Jersey Transit suspended service on the River Line from the Walter Rand Transportation Center and the Waterfront and suspended service on the Atlantic City Rail Line between Lindenwold and Cherry Hill.
Crews are working to restore full train service in South Jersey but PATCO warned riders that the station closure is expected to last into the evening commute.
SEPTA also had some delays on Regional Rail lines.
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The line of storms passed Lancaster and hit New Castle County, Delaware, the Philly suburbs, South Jersey and the Philadelphia area early Monday evening, bringing torrential downpours and lightning.
Storms Rip Through Region, Cause Outages Across Area
There were reports of hurricane-force wind gusts in all three states with an 80 mph gust in Brookhaven, Delaware County; a 78 mph gust at the New Castle County Airport in Delaware; and a 76 mph near Fort Dix, New Jersey.
The roof of a car wash in Edgewater Park, Burlington County, was torn off by the strong winds.
The storm took down trees and power lines, caused hourlong delays at Philadelphia International Airport and knocked out power for tens of thousands of customers across the region.
As of shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, PECO reported more than 4,500 outages, most in Bucks and Delaware counties; PSE&G reported more than 16,000 and Jersey Central Power & Light reported more than 7,700 in Ocean County.
The wind was only part of the story as heavy rain also fell. The National Weather Service said the daily rainfall record for July 22 was broken at Lehigh Valley International Airport. The service recorded about 2½ inches of rain. The previous daily record was 1.54 inches, set in 1938.
High temps Tuesday will only get to the mid 70s, a far departure from days of oppressive and dangerous heat that gripped the East Coast through the weekend.
Scattered showers could linger during the day Tuesday before the sunshine returns Wednesday and we get mostly clear conditions through the end of the workweek.
Follow the NBC10 First Alert Weather team and download the NBC10 app for the latest forecast.
