Storms slam New Jersey after heat wave, leaving flooding and outages

Thunderstorms tore through New Jersey and nearby New York on Sunday, ripping part of the roof off a BJ’s Wholesale Club and leaving more than 140,000 customers without power across the two states. By early afternoon, about 110,000 were still in the dark as crews worked through flooding, downed trees and broken power lines.

Bergen County was among the hardest-hit areas in New Jersey, while Dutchess and Suffolk counties in New York also absorbed major damage. In River Edge, a tree fell onto a home and sparked a fire; one service member was treated for minor injuries, and the residents got out safely. A flood watch remained in effect across the Tri-State Area through Monday night as local utilities faced a repair effort that could stretch for days in some neighborhoods.

The storms came after a punishing stretch of heat across the New York-New Jersey region over the July Fourth weekend. Officials opened cooling centers and issued heat alerts as temperatures climbed into dangerous territory, then had to shift almost immediately to storm response as wind gusts reached 87 mph in some spots.

New York City saw its own storm-related disruption when a tree crashed into a subway train near the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station in the Bronx, briefly suspending 4 train service. Transit workers, utility crews and first responders were left clearing debris and restoring service while flooded streets and blocked roads slowed travel across the region.

Another emergency unfolded on the East River around 12:01 p.m. Sunday, when a Kodiak 100 seaplane with eight people aboard made a hard landing near East 23rd Street and the FDR Drive in Manhattan. The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot brought the aircraft down in the East River near Brooklyn, snapping a wing strut. Two people were evaluated for minor injuries and at least one passenger refused medical attention before the plane was towed back to the dock. NYPD Harbor Unit officers reached the aircraft, threw a rope and helped passengers in life vests onto a police boat, while 16-year-old passenger Khloe Todd said she feared the plane would go down. The incident came three weeks after another seaplane crashed into the East River near Whitestone, Queens.