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In N.J., restoring all power may take days

Work to restore power to thousands of South Jersey residents could stretch into Friday and the weekend, following the violent storm Tuesday evening that uprooted trees, knocked out cellphone service, halted PATCO trains, and tore off part of a convent's roof.

Greenwich Township Public Works' Courtney Pickens, right, and Bob Homan, center, work to clear away fallen trees on Hill Drive in Gibbstown on June 24, 2015, following Tuesday night's storm. (Michael Bryant/Staff Photographer)
Greenwich Township Public Works' Courtney Pickens, right, and Bob Homan, center, work to clear away fallen trees on Hill Drive in Gibbstown on June 24, 2015, following Tuesday night's storm. (Michael Bryant/Staff Photographer)Read more

Work to restore power to thousands of South Jersey residents could stretch into Friday and the weekend, following the violent storm Tuesday evening that uprooted trees, knocked out cellphone service, halted PATCO trains, and tore off part of a convent's roof.

The storm - which brought straight-line winds that were powerful enough to match the strength of an EF-0, or low-grade, tornado - cut power to more than 400,000 PSE&G and Atlantic City Electric customers across South Jersey. As of late Wednesday, about half of them had power restored.

PSE&G said it hoped to have the lights back on for all customers by Friday afternoon. Atlantic City Electric offered an estimate of midday Saturday, but said some customers might have to wait until midnight. Both companies brought in outside crews to repair damaged power lines, some of which came down with trees.

National Weather Service officials said a tornado did not touch down, but wind gusts surpassed 70 m.p.h. and in Gloucester County reached 85 m.p.h.

In Camden County, dispatchers received more than 1,000 fire-related calls from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. It normally receives about 100 such calls in that time period, county spokesman Dan Keashen said. As measured by county operations and emergency response, the storm caused more trouble than Sandy, he said.

"When we talk about prior hurricanes like Irene, like Sandy, this current storm was by far and away worse, and could be one of the worst weather events in the modern era for Camden County," Keashen said.

In Cherry Hill, Mark Pastoriza came home to find a "crater" in his front lawn. The winds had uprooted one tree and sent it crashing into another - causing the second tree's branches to come within a foot of his front window.

He initially told his three daughters to stay inside as he surveyed the damage.

"We lost power, too, so they were freaked out," he said.

In Greenwich Township, Gloucester County - where weather officials measured the 85 m.p.h. gust - pieces of the roof from St. Michael's Convent were scattered across the lawn.

When the storm hit Tuesday evening, the nuns could see branches falling outside, Sister Jerilyn Einstein said. Then they heard a loud boom.

Facilities manager Jonathan Wisham, who was inside his car, watched as part of the convent roof lifted into the air.

"I rushed up and banged on the door," Wisham said. He brought two nuns to safety inside a vestibule at Guardian Angels Catholic School next door.

At Deptford Mall in Gloucester County, the storm flipped a blue Honda onto its roof.

In Washington Township, part of a Kohl's store sign along East Black Horse Pike dangled in the air. Parking lots and fast food restaurants such as McDonald's sat empty Wednesday morning - they had no power. On the road, drivers navigated through inactive traffic lights.

In the aftermath of the storm, cellphone service was knocked out for thousands of Verizon Wireless customers, sending them back into a time before mobile devices.

Among those without service was Lawrence Douglas, 62, an electrician from Philadelphia who was working in Washington Township. He tried calling his boss five times Wednesday morning. Nothing went through.

He said he couldn't get into the storage facility he was supposed to check out, because only his boss had the key.

Verizon said it had restored wireless service to the region around 2 p.m.

For mass transit commuters, the storm presented a headache.

On the PATCO line, it caused an 18-hour power outage - the worst in the commuter line's 45-year history. Four-car trains began running in 20-minute intervals once power was restored. Officials said normal service was expected to resume Thursday.

BY THE NUMBERS

500,000

Estimated total power outages

72

m.p.h. gust in Philadelphia

85

m.p.h gust in Gloucester County

4

Funnel clouds sighted

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