Heavy snow
and regional flooding left its mark across the region. A Montgomery
County man died while shoveling snow from Winter Storm Jonas in Lower
Providence Township near Philadelphia Saturday, WCAU reported Saturday. Authorities have not revealed the 88-year-old man’s identity or an exact cause of death.
Parts
of New Jersey and Delaware were hit with severe coastal flooding
Saturday morning that left roads inundated and beaches eroded. Hundreds
of people are still stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, including a
college basketball and gymnastics team and a church group.
The region can still expect the following impacts:
- Snowfall, finishing early Sunday, with totals more than 2 feet in hardest-hit areas
- Major coastal flooding will be ongoing in parts of New Jersey and Delaware.
On
Saturday morning, Great Channel and Stone Harbor, New Jersey, both
broke flood records that were previously set during Superstorm Sandy.
Delaware Bay at Cape May also reported record flooding, rising above its
Sandy total.
A mandatory evacuation was in place
for the town of Barnegat, New Jersey, Saturday morning due to the
flooding, according to ABC 7 New York. Several towns were also under
voluntary evacuations, most of which were in Ocean County.
A
state of emergency remained in effect for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Delaware as Winter Storm Jonas pounded the region; the National Weather
Service expects 18 inches of snow to fall in the region. A blizzard
warning has been issued for the Philadelphia
area, effective from Saturday through Sunday morning and a coastal
flood warning is also be in effect at the Jersey Shore and along the
Delaware Bay.
"Declaring a state of emergency allows the
commonwealth to deliver state resources wherever they're needed as
quickly as possible," said Governor Wolf in a press statement. "We have
multiple state agencies working at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency to monitor weather conditions across the state and we will
respond to help local governments and residents in need."
New Jersey
Significant flooding has occurred along the coast, forcing officials to close major roadways and evacuate residents. Tens of thousands are without power along the New Jersey coast due to strong winds, according to the Associated Press.North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello told NBC10 that Saturday morning’s flooding was half-a-foot higher than what his town experienced during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Rosenello said residents have been calling emergency personnel after water began entering their homes. Some residents have been evacuated from their homes and Rosenello said an emergency shelter has been opened.
At the Cape May Harbor, a new record high tide was registered. The old record, which happened during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, was 8.67’. The high tide registered at 9.26’ during the high tide Saturday morning. Lewes, Delaware also set a new record high tide.
"This is worse than Sandy — I have more water now than then," Keith Laudeman, owner of the Lobster House in Cape May told the Jersey Tribune, adding that water started flooding around 3 a.m. and some areas flooded up to 18 inches.
"We did everything we could but the tide came up. I never saw this coming. I didn't think it was going to be this bad," Laudeman said.
In Ocean City, streets were covered with up to a foot of icy water Saturday morning, WPVI reports, with more flooding expected as the day dragged on. The next high tide will be coming in at 7 p.m.
The AP said Route 30 in Atlantic City was closed Saturday morning due to tidal flooding, per the state police. Between Cape May and Middle Township, the George Redding Bridge was also closed.
JCPL removing the mast of a sailboat caught in their lines that caused power outages in Belmar. Can't make this up.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie advised residents to stay off roads and to "be smart and be safe." The governor tweeted that Winter Storm Jonas marks the state's 17th snow emergency since he entered office.
“We had a major roof collapse when we arrived on scene,” Westfield Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Brennan said. “As it stands now it looks like it’s weather-related.”
New Jersey Transit announced it has temporarily shut down all of its service, the AP reported early Saturday.
Barnegat emergency management officials have issued a local state of emergency and called for the mandatory evacuation of residents in the low-lying area of the bayfront town in Ocean County between the municipal bathing beach and the East Bay Avenue Bridge.
The state has snow plows, shovels, snow blowers and 20,000 bags of snow-melting supplies in place for the storm.
According to FlightAware.com, most flights have been cancelled at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Acela Express and Northeast Regional service will operate on modified schedules over the weekend.
Winter Storm Jonas has caused Academy Bus to cancel at least 3 routes on Saturday. Passengers are advised to check the Academy website for the latest on further modifications or cancellations service.
Code Blue has been activated throughout the state to open up warming stations for residents.
All recreational events and programs in the Woodbridge Township have been cancelled for Saturday and residents are reminded to remove all vehicles from streets designated as Snow Emergency Routes. Parking bans will remain in effect in the township until roadways have been plowed.
Utility companies in New Jersey are reporting that nearly 100,000 customers are without power, with the majority of those affected along the coast.
Jersey Central Power & Light says nearly 44,000 customers were without power, with outages along the coast from north of Sea Bright south to near Barnegat Light. The outages come as a strong winter storm packing high wind and snow moves through New Jersey.
Atlantic City Electric reports nearly 45,000 customers without power. The outages stretch from Barnegat Beach south to Cape May and as far west as Mantua.
Pennsylvania
Traffic is at a standstill on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Bedford, Pa., Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Watkins)
One
of the stranded vehicles was a bus carrying the Duquesne University
men's basketball team, which has been stranded between Somerset and
Bedford, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles from home, for more than 18 hours.
The team tweeted Saturday afternoon that they expect to be stuck
another night.
The Temple women's gymanstics team
has also been stranded for over 24 hours. Temple gymnastics coach Umme
Salim-Beasley said her team usually travels with a large amount of
snacks "so those came in handy," and fire department personnel brought
them water. Salim-Beasley said her team's training has made spending
hours on a cramped bus more bearable than it might be for others.
"We are a gymnastics team," she said. "So we can get into positions that most people won't be able to get into."
A group of 96 parishioners from an Indiana church — mostly teens — we also stranded returning from the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
Father Shaun Whittington said they had enough gas to keep the buses
running and enough DVDs to keep the kids entertained. They also built a
altar out of snow and held a mass.
Young Catholics returning from #MarchForLife stranded in Pa. Turnpike blizzard build snow altar and celebrate Mass.
All flights have been canceled at Philadelphia International Airport on Saturday. Airlines are allowing travelers to change their flights without penalty from Saturday through Sunday, including American Airlines (the dominant carrier at Philadelphia
International Airport), Delta Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Frontier
Airlines and United Airlines. JetBlue has also waived fees to Philadelphia flights on Saturday only.
SEPTA
has announced that it will suspend service on all operations except on
the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines starting at 4 a.m. Saturday.
Service is expected to resume Sunday.Delaware
Winter Storm Jonas hit Delaware hard early Saturday, with the National Weather Service announcing widespread coastal flooding for Sussex County.In response to the severe weather, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell issued a driving ban, taking effect at 8 a.m. Saturday, according to the AP. The Delaware Department of Transportation closed Rt.1 from Dewey to Bethany Beach and near Fenwick Island Saturday due to the flooding. Numerous other secondary streets in coastal areas were also closed.
As of early Saturday afternoon, a number of coastal towns were experiencing significant floods due to the storm, which county officials say could be "potentially record-breaking," Delmarva Now reports.
County spokesman Chip Guy said high tide at Lewes at 8 a.m. was recorded at 9.2 feet, just shy of the previous record of 9.22 feet set during the March 1962 nor'easter.
"Numerous dune breaches have occurred along the Atlantic coast ... low-lying communities around the Inland Bays are experiencing significant flooding," Guy said in a statement.
Dozens of residents have been evacuated from Long Neck and Oak Orchard, with high water and power outages hitting several bayside neighborhoods.
Firefighters evacuated about a dozen people Saturday from Oak Orchard, a low-lying community in southern Delaware that routinely floods during storms.
Delaware National Guard troops are positioned in Wilmington, Smyrna, Georgetown and at an armory near Newport.
The state had a fleet of 450 snow plows, loaders and road graders ready to clear roads, according to DelawareOnline, as well as 43,154 tons of salt stockpiled.
As many as 500 state employees could be called in to help remove snow, according to spokesman for DelDOT, Jim Westhoff.
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