The wind snapped a tree on the golf course.
A small but strong storm passed quickly through the area Friday evening bringing down trees and dumping a lot of water before moving on.
The National Weather Service said wind gusts as high as 65 mph were recorded in the area. For comparison, a classification for a category one hurricane is winds of at least 74 mph. The rainfall total was about half an inch but it all fell in about 35 minutes.
In Maplewood, trees were down on Burnet Street, Indiana Street, in Memorial Park and on the Maplewood Country Club Golf Course among other places. One tree came down on top of a home on South Pierson Street. Several trees were down in backyards in the Golf Island neighborhood by Maplewood Middle School.
Maplewood seems to have been hit the worst but trees were also reported down on Eisenhower Parkway and West Northfield Road in Livingston and on Stuyvesant Avenue in Union in Union County.
The Maplewood Department of Public said, via Mayor Nancy Adams, that cleanup is ongoing and has consisted of two crews of workers, which includes a foreman, lead person and laborers, using chainsaws with chipper trucks, four wheel loaders, dump trucks, a rolloff truck with container, and a bucket truck.
There were more than 40 trees downed during the storm on both private and public property in Maplewood.
“We are responsible for addressing public trees, homeowners are required to handle their own,” DPW said in the statement. “Many fallen trees involved wires, which required coordination with PSEG to de-energize before removal. In addition to the personnel hours and equipment usage, the township will also be responsible for vegetation disposal.”
An exact total for the cost of the clean up to the township was not available but will likely fall somewhere between $25,000 and $45,000.
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