Fierce storm floods streets, knocks down trees in New Jersey

Remnants of Tropical Storm Florence soaked parts of tristate area overnight into Tuesday. Flash flood warnings were in effect for much of the day across New Jersey.

Flood waters surged onto the streets of Newark. The water gushed up from a manhole just off Clay and Broad Street, quickly filling a parking lot and submerging cars and SUVs to the tops of the wheel wells.

The roadway beneath the Marin Street overpass in Jersey City overflowed, with cars and buses navigating through at the end of the workday.

A short but powerful thunderstorm tore down trees and knocked out power in Summit in Union County. Residents of one neighborhood said the storm was 25 seconds of terror.

Alan Muses lives on Meadowbrook Court, where an uprooted tree landed on his roof. He said the storm was very intense and then was gone in a blink of the eye.

The freak windstorm, described as a microburst, lasted just seconds but left more than 700 residents in the town without power for much of the day, causing a local elementary school to shut down.

One resident said she thought that a tornado caused the damage. But the National Weather Service said the damage is not widespread enough to do a tornado survey.