Flooding and storm damage hit New Jersey, BJ's roof partially collapses

A BJ's Wholesale Club roof partially collapsed Monday in Ocean Township, Monmouth County, after heavy rain flooded the store on NJ-35 in the Oakhurst neighborhood. The collapse happened around 11:30 a.m., and about a foot of water was reported inside the building.

Authorities said 27 people were inside when part of the roof gave way. Two were briefly partially trapped, but they freed themselves and got out safely. No injuries were reported.

Monmouth County officials urged people to stay away from the BJ's site and from Route 35 as emergency crews continued to respond. The scene underscored how quickly the damage can mount when heavy rain lands on top of already stressed neighborhoods, with a retail building taking on floodwater and traffic disruption spreading along one of the county's main corridors.

The collapse came after a weekend of unprecedented heat and severe storms across New Jersey. County officials said more thunderstorms were possible later in the week, keeping the threat of additional flooding in play even as crews worked through the damage in Ocean Township.

Across New Jersey, flash flood warnings were issued in multiple counties as slow-moving rain showers and thunderstorms dumped heavy rain. Along the Jersey Shore, rising water forced rescues in some areas and sent water rapidly across roads and highways, adding to the pressure on local infrastructure and emergency responders.

The storm damage followed a punishing stretch of heat that had already turned deadly. Separate reporting said several days of scorching temperatures were suspected in at least 19 deaths in New Jersey before the severe storms moved in, a grim measure of how quickly the state's weather has shifted from one extreme to another.

For residents and businesses, the back-to-back blows left little time to recover. Floodwater inside a major retail store, road closures around NJ-35, and the threat of more thunderstorms later in the week left Ocean Township and the wider Monmouth County area bracing for another round of weather-driven disruption.