RedBank.Com

What was it and were the hell did it come from? I have lived in this area my entire life and I have never seen a storm like this one last Friday night. I have held on to trees during hurricane Donna and watched it wipe out all the boats on the river. I have seen just about every storm that has come through this area....even helped to evacuate friends from Sea Bright in the early eighties during a hurricane.

Nothing compared to the half hour storm that hit us on Friday, August 2. August 2 was my birthday and the 34th anniversary of Danny's Restaurant, about half way through the storm as I watched wakes from cars on Bridge Avenue crash into the Danny's as if it was the sea wall in Sea Bright, I looked to the heavens and said to God, "You've got to be kidding me." Vertical rain and hail pounded the front windows. Water rained inside the building from just about every corner. Water was over a foot deep on Bridge Ave going from my building across to the Galleria. Pat Nulle, owner of the Downtown Cafe, was sitting at the bar, turned and looked out the window, studied the waters and then yelled, "Shark." Water came in the back and front doors at the same time. Lights flickered on and off and gratefully stayed on for the rest of the night. My outdoor tables, chairs and umbrellas wound up in a clump. Chris, at Buena Sera, told me that he had over two feet of water in the restaurant. There was a Porsche sitting in front of the restaurant on Maple Ave with water up to the windows. Three feet of water on Maple Avenue is unheard of. Winds were clocked at the sailing club in Marine Park at 105 miles per hour. And then it was over. The water receded leaving people driving around for hours trying to find their way out of town. Blocked drains and sheer volume of water filled up the basin of the Highway 35 Bridge coming into Red Bank. High tension lines and transformers fell on to the Raceway gas station trapping 3 girls in a car. The area had to be closed.

From the damage this storm caused many people believe one or more tornadoes touched down. Hugh trees from Middletown to Long Branch were twisted and broken taking wires, transformers and telephone lines down with them. Navesink River Road is still closed along with many side streets in the area. Monmouth College lost many of their two hundred year old trees. They also were twisted as they were torn up and blown over. Electric was out for over two hundred thousand people. Rumson, Middletown and Little Silver were hit hardest with hundreds of large trees blown over. There were a number of restaurants and businesses in Red Bank that did not lose power but the Radio and Television announcers kept saying that Red Bank did not have electricity so people did not come to town to see who was open adding to the losses. I love those guys. I think this was what they call a "hundred year storm." I hope so; everyone's nerves were shot after this one.

photo by Nick Ciaccia

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From the Archives: This story by Danny Murphy originally appeared in RedBank.com on August 15th, 2002.