Thursday night's storm left trees and wires down throughout the area.
Thousands were still without power this morning in Warren County after damaging storms Thursday evening ripped through the area.
About 7,000 residents remained in the dark about 10 this morning, said Frank Wheatley, public safety director and emergency management coordinator for Warren County.
"It seems like the brunt of the storm was in White Township," Wheatley said.
Hope Township Elementary and Lopatcong Township Elementary schools are closed, while White Township Elementary School was under a delay, Wheatley said.
In Northampton County, about 250 residents were without power this morning, said Met-Ed spokesman Marc Troutman.
Roads were still blocked this morning by downed trees and wires in Warren County, Wheatley said.
He said residents can expect power to be restored by 3 o'clock, although there may be a few pockets without power for a longer period.
There were several motor vehicle accidents during the storm, but only one reported injury, Wheatley said.
Meteorologist Mike Mihalik from WeatherWorks in Hackettstown said a strengthening storm from the south combined over Warren County with a squall line from the west, which increased the duration of the extreme weather.
Top winds gusts were 50 to 60 mph in the county, he said.
"It seemed like the worst of it went into Warren County," Mihalik said, adding that a fellow meteorologist who lives in Hope Township saw many trees into wires.
"It was a pretty powerful front and there was very humid, moist air in front of it, creating an extremely unstable atmosphere," Mihalik said. "The storms fed off the unstable air. That's how it became so powerful."
About 150 customers of the Northampton County customers without power are in the Mount Bethel area, Troutman said, while there are about 50 customers without power in Plainfield Township and about 20 in Washington Township.
"We have people working on that right now," he said. "Most of the damage was from lightning and trees falling on lines."
Troutman said there are crews from outside the area helping to restore power by the end of the day. He didn't have an estimated time.
About 8 p.m., Thursday, Troutman said Northampton County had about 2,100 customers without power.
Express-Times Assistant Managing Editor Tony Rhodin contributed to this report.
