Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Storm Rolls Through Whiting; House, Car Damaged

No one appeared to be injured from the 15-minute storm

Though an afternoon storm may have brought some relief from the in the region, it also uprooted trees and sparked a fire in Whiting.

Wind gusts and heavy rain snapped a tree in half along Columbine Avenue in Crestwood Village I, causing it to land on a house's roof.

Another tree just down the road was uprooted and fell on a minivan belonging to Frank and Alice Swiderski, who have lived in the neighborhood for four years.

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The couple heard the wind and rain from the storm and checked on a large tree in the backyard, fearing that it or its branches might fall on their home.

"We were looking out the back and my husband said, 'let me check the front,'" Swiderski said. "He came back and said, 'don't be upset, but there's a tree on the car.'"

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A crew from the Lakehurst Fire Department assisted Whiting and Manchester responders who were at the scene of the downed tree.

No one was injured when the tree fell from the opposite site of the street and onto the Swiderski driveway, said Lakehurst's fire chief Ed Seaman.

Calls for downed trees were received around Whiting, according a member of the fire company.

The wind, Swiderski said, was "brutal."

"I'm not usually nervous, but I was nervous. This year, the storms have been really bad," she said. 

A severe storm , also downing trees and leaving roadways littered with debris.

John Badagliacca, a Crestwood Village I resident, said that he believed this storm, which lasted about 20 minutes, may have been more severe than last month's.

He watched from a window as his neighbor's tree snapped and fell on the roof. 

"It was raining heavy and all of a sudden I saw the tree snap right in half and come down," he said.

Power flickered during the storm, said Catherine Suszcweicz of Whiting, who claimed to have seen a funnel cloud form. 

A meterologist from the National Weather Service's Mount Holly office said that he was unfamiliar with the specifics of the storm that passed through the area and that there was no immediate indication of a funnel cloud forming.

JCP&L as of 5:45 p.m. Friday reported that between 2,000-5,000 customers in Whiting could be without power. The utility company's trucks were seen in the area following the storm.

A lightning strike at about 4 p.m. Friday caused the fire on Timberline Lane in the Reserve at Lake Ridge neighborhood, said Whiting Fire Chief Rich Slezak. No one in the home was injured and the attic sustained only "minimal damage," he said.

No one appeared to be injured from the storm's impact, but further information was unavailable at press time.

Manchester Police have not yet responded to requests for more information.

This breaking news report will be updated with additional details as they become available. 


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