Heavy Rains Cause Problems in Toms River; Basement Collapse Reported

Toms River-As another storm passed through Ocean County last night, Toms River was hit hard with flooding and residential lightning strikes.   A home on Darren Street was badly damaged in the aftermath.   A call was made to 911 early this morning and the caller reported to police that something, “Sounded like someone was running, then heard some type of explosion sound, but there is no smoke”.

Upon arrival, Toms River Police and the Silverton Volunteer Fire Company found that the ground, saturated with water around the home caused the rear wall of the dwelling’s basement to collapse.

“The caller thought at first somebody was breaking into their home and entered the basement.  Then there was what sounded like an explosion,” said Chief Bob Sinnott of the Silverton VFC. “The force of the water on the wall appears to have collapsed the rear wall and caused damage to the other walls.”

The Toms River Technical Rescue Taskforce responded to support the structure.  No injuries were reported.

The Technical Rescue Taskforce is a group of trained firefighters ready to be deployed to any technical rescue emergency in Toms River Township. A technical rescue is any emergency involving a confined space, trench collapse, high angle rope rescue scenario or a structural collapse incident.

The Technical Rescue Taskforce consists of fire department personnel from all six Toms River Fire Companies.

Sinnott also said the various Toms River fire departments responded to 8 calls during last night’s storm, including 4 homes that were struck by lightning at around the same time in different areas of town.

Flooding was heavy along Route 37 from Hooper Avenue to the Tunney/Mathis Bridge early this morning causing lane closures.  At around 7:10 a.m., flooding on Route 37 forced the Toms River Police Department to close all lanes eastbound and detoured traffic.

Check back soon for photos from the recovery effort and an update on this story.

You can also visit Jersey Shore Hurricane news for up to the minute photos and video from locals.

Posted by Ocean County News on Sep 4 2012. Filed under In the News, Police Blotter, Toms River. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.