Shore Environment

Residents: Tornado May Have Struck Brick Neighborhood

by
Daniel Nee
April 21, 2020

Damage from a severe storm, April 21, 2019, in Herbertsville. (Credit: Steven Houghtaling/Facebook)

Damage from a severe storm, April 21, 2020, in Herbertsville. (Credit: Steven Houghtaling/Facebook)

A neighborhood in the township’s Herbertsville section may have been the scene of a tornado or microburst Tuesday afternoon, downing trees, destroying cars and sending sparking powerlines to the ground.

The epicenter appeared to the be the Bluff View Estates neigborhood on the Manasquan River. Photos of Point View Road, Bluff View Road and Eagle View Ridge showed damage to homes and trees lining the streets, while police were going house-to-house assessing damage and ensuring residents were safe. One home had a tree pierce its picture window.

Damage from a severe storm, April 21, 2020, in Herbertsville. (Credit: Steven Houghtaling/Facebook)

A viewer (Wendy Helfer) sent this video in to the news room. Appears to be a funnel cloud over Manasquan. Happened around 3p @NWS_MountHolly @News12NJ #StormWatch #NJToday #NJwx @GarySzatkowski pic.twitter.com/k3bnIx0RBC

— Dave Curren (@DaveCurren) April 21, 2020

“Pretty sure I just experienced my first tornado,” said one Point View Road resident.

Liz Barry, another Point View resident, said the neighborhood looked like a “war zone.”

Police were blocking entrance to the neighborhood from Tanager Way and other streets. JCP&L reported between 21 and 100 customers were experiencing a loss of power.

Damage to Point View Road from the April 21, 2020 storm. (Photo: Jack O’Callaghan)

The National Weather Service’ office in Mount Holly was closed for the day and unavailable for comment on whether a tornado struck. Several people, however, shared photos on social media of a funnel cloud near the Manasquan Wildlife Management Area, which backs up to the neighborhood.

“Trees are everywhere – big, giant trees in the street,” said Mayor John Ducey.

Damage from a severe storm, April 21, 2020, in Herbertsville. (Credit: Steven Houghtaling/Facebook)

While other neighborhoods experienced a strong storm, and some Toms River neighborhoods may have seen their own isolated severe conditions, the northernmost development in Brick was struck the hardest, Ducey said.

“Trees crushed down onto a house and took the gutters down,” the mayor observed.