Irene: Tree Takes Out Amwell Road Power Lines

A tree alongside the Neshanic River is a cause of both road closures on Amwell Road and power outages for residents in the western part of town.

In addition to the tree hitting the power lines, the river has also flooded over the bridge, though residents in the area say it’s gone down since this morning. The county maintains the bridge over the river, according to Hillsborough Township Police Chief Paul Kaminsky and Mayor Gloria McCauley.

They estimated that the power went out in their area around 1 a.m., they said.

In addition, a county-maintained bridge over a culvert near Longhill Road suffered a minor collapse on one side of the road. The road, when not blocked-off, is still passable, since the collapsed portion is on the bridge shoulder.

County engineers are expected to be out inspecting both bridges, officials added.

At least one resident felt the storm was not as bad as expected.

“We made out pretty good,” Joe Liptack said. “We got a little bit of water in the cellar and then the driveway.”

Though water in his cellar was a concern, Liptack said he was also worried about his workplace. As a gardener for the Somerset County Parks Commission, he’s worried about the conditions in Colonial Park.

But for Liptack’s wife, Claire, the storm’s been the second of two events this week—she’s been in Fairfax Virginia, near the 5.8-magnitude earthquake.

“First she got the earthquake and now this,” he said. “She called me Friday night and said, ‘I’ll come home Saturday.’ I said, ‘I don’t know that I’ll be able to get to the train station to pick you up.”