Heavy rain brings flash flooding to Central Jersey; power outage in New Brunswick and Franklin
CENTRAL JERSEY – Heavy rains and high winds battered Central Jersey as a complex storm system that brought two feet of snow to Wisconsin and tornadoes to North Carolina barreled through the area.
Although much of the rain had slowed by noon Monday, by 10 a.m., flash flooding was reported throughout the area. The Nation Weather Service issued a flash flood warning until 1:30 p.m. and a flash flood watch until 6.
PSE&G is reporting more than 2,000 customers in New Brunswick and Franklin are without power at 10:30 a.m. JCP&L is reporting only scattered outages.
About an inch of rain has fallen since 8 a.m. and more than two inches since midnight.
READ: Equipment fail leaves Middlesex County towns in the dark
READ:Rutgers $2.7M grant to reduce flooding in Linden
Road flooding is rampant throughout the area, causing delays on major highways and blocking secondary roads.
Route 287 is flooded north of Route 1 in both directions. Delays are at least 45 minutes.
Both sides of Route 1 flooded and southbound Route 1 was closed in South Brunswick, while the right and center lanes of Route 22 in North Plainfield are closed. Route 1 in South Brunswick reopened around 1:20 p.m.
Ramps from westbound Route 22 to Mountain Avenue in Bound Brook and eastbound Route 22 to Route 287 in Bridgewater are closed.
The southbound Route 18 ramp to George Street in New Brunswick is closed.
Lanes are closed on the southbound Garden State Parkway are closed in Woodbridge.
Jersey Avenue in North Brunswick and Amboy Avenue in Woodbridge are closed.
Mountain Avenue in Warren is closed in the area of Sterling Road.
In Edison Township, the train bridge at Parsonage Road and Lincoln Highway was closed until about 12:30 p.m. after a school bus got stuck.
According to Fire Capt. Andy Toth, around 10 a.m. Monday a small school bus, similar to a mini van, got stuck under the railroad bridge at Parsonage Road taking a teenage boy in a wheelchair to the Lakeview School. The flooding had the vehicle stuck in such a way that the vehicle door could not be opened.
Both the student and his wheelchair had to be taken out through the back of the school vehicle and then because the student and his wheelchair could not be transported in a police vehicle, a handicapped accessible health department vehicle had to be brought to the scene to transport the student and his wheelchair to school. The student got to school around 12:15 p.m. officials said.
Contributing: Staff Writer Cheryl Makin
Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com