Strong thunderstorms on Monday, July 25, 2016, caused damage throughout Hunterdon and Somerset counties.
A line of strong thunderstorms raced across Central Jersey on Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rains and winds up to 60 miles an hour, snapping trees, bringing down power lines and causing flooding.
Branchburg announced late Monday that the severe thunderstorm caused sporadic power outages. The township also reported that "the area of Harlan School Road, Stony Brook Road and Preakness Circle was exposed to a microburst, a small tornado-like wind storm, that was strong enough to break at least seven utility poles and throw cars almost 100 feet."
As of Tuesday morning, there are outages still being reported in the township by JCP&L. At least 26 customers are affected. Just after the storm, there were some 4,000 residents in Hunterdon and Somerset counties without power. Several hundred are still without power as of Tuesday morning.
A number of roads throughout Somerset and Hunterdon counties were closed into Monday night because of the storm damage, including Amwell and River roads in Hillsborough, Finderne Avenue in Bridgewater and Blawenburg-Belle Mead Road in Montgomery Township.
Route 206, closed at the border of Hillsborough and Montgomery townships, reopened shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday. It was closed when the storm brought down power lines and trees.