Bizarre Weather and Storms Hit Ocean County in 2020

11/25/2020 (Permalink)

This living room in Toms River shows how much damage a tree on the roof can do to the interior of your home after the microburst.

2020 Was the Year of Bizarre Weather and Storms in Ocean County 

Storm damage does not happen only from hurricanes or tornadoes as Ocean County has learned in 2020. We have not only experienced Tropical Storm Isaias this year, but also a microburst, a waterspout and even something called a derecho.

Tropical Strom Isaias tore through New Jersey in August of 2020 with tornadoes spotted in Barnegat and Stafford. A wind gust of 70 mph was recorded at the Robert J. Miller Airpark according to the Toms River Patch. This storm also uprooted multiple trees in Toms River and destroyed a dugout in Berkeley Township.

A microburst tore through a neighborhood in Toms River near Bay Avenue in April. Block after block, there were downed trees and destroyed houses. The wind was so strong a trailer went airborne and landed on a neighboring property. The National Weather Service classifies a microburst as a localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm and is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter. Wind speeds in microbursts can reach up to 100 mph, or even higher, which is equivalent to an EF-1 tornado!  

After that, in June, the derecho came through New Jersey. According to Merriam-Webster, a derecho is a large fast-moving complex of thunderstorms with powerful straight-line winds that cause widespread destruction. HailTrace posted that this wild wind event went from Pennsylvania with winds gusting up to 80 mph from the Harrisburg, PA area all the way to the Jersey shore! One spot in New Jersey even saw winds up to 89 mph!

After these storms hit, there was a wide array of damaged left behind. At SERVPRO of Toms River, we are fully equipped to handle all these different types of storm damage cleanup and repair services including hurricanes, thunderstorms, snowstorms, hailstorms, tornadoes, tropical storms, microbursts and derechos. We strive to make any storm disaster cleanup as painless as possible by working with your insurance company to get you back into your property quickly. Call us 24/7 at 732-349-9898