Crime & Safety

Shore Spared From Brunt of Snow, But Flooding Concerns Persist

Rain washes away snow as concerns turn to Thursday night's high tide

The Jersey Shore area was spared the hefty, foot-high accumulations of snow that are continuing to mount Thursday in the western and northern portions of the state, but officials are still concerned over the threat of flooding as high tide approaches.

Overnight snow changed to rain between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. Thursday. Ever since, sheets of wind-driven rain have been falling as the winds howled from the northeast. In the Ortley Beach section on Toms River, the small amount of snow that had fallen earlier was gone, with the temperature holding steady at about 36 degrees by 11:30 a.m.

Toms River was among the towns hoping the flooding would be kept to a minimum.

"So far just the usual roadway 'pooling,' but as far as tidal, we seem to be doing well," said police spokesman Ralph Stocco.

The next high tide in Barnegat Bay will come at 11:22 p.m. Thursday night in Ocean Beach, Toms River, and at 11:06 p.m. at the Mantoloking Bridge in Brick. Along the oceanfront, high tide will occur at 6:35 p.m. in Seaside Heights.

In Brick Township, the snow turned to rain around 8 a.m., residents told Patch, but the winds quickly kicked up, causing tree branches to scatter. There were no reports of major flooding in town, however.

Despite the high winds, power outages were few and far between, according to Jersey Central Power and Light. The utility reported under 20 power outages in Brick and Toms River, with a small cluster of outages in South Toms River.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.