2 tornadoes confirmed in northern New Jersey as severe weather impacts Tri-State Area
There were two confirmed tornadoes in northern New Jersey on Tuesday.
One touched down in Stanhope, Sussex County, and the other touched down in Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County.
Information on the strength of those tornadoes is not yet available. The National Weather Service will send survey crews to those areas on Wednesday to investigate and determine their ratings.
Tornado in Stanhope
Stanhope Police said most of the damage was contained to major roadways, and there were no injuries reported in connection to the tornado.
On Route 206 right off 280, there were downed trees along the highway. One tree even caught fire after falling onto a downed powerline.
Flanders resident Julie Fischer said she witnessed the tornado in Stanhope.
"Just happened to notice the skies changing colors and cars were starting to pull under the underpass, and we realized something was wrong," Fischer said. "And a little bit ahead, we saw all those trees down on top of those cars and slowed down."
Fischer said a line of trees on Route 80 was "completely gone."
"We've seen trees down from storms, but nothing like this," she said.
Gov. Sherrill urges residents to stay safe
Gov. Mikie Sherrill spoke to CBS News New York about the severe weather.
"We're not used to tornado warnings in New Jersey. These alerts are sent out because the threat is imminent, so please pay close attention to them and follow the suggestions to keep yourself safe," she said.
Sherrill said the state Department of Transportation activated its operations center to keep state roads safe during the evening commute, and is reminding drivers not to drive through flooded areas.
"Right now, we are keeping a close eye on these storms and making sure that the alerts are going out so people can keep themselves safe and continue to work to make sure all of the power companies are alerted to any outages we know of," she said.
Tornado watch across region
A large part of the Tri-State Area was under a tornado watch for most of the day.
CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave said his flight bound for Newark Liberty International Airport got diverted to Philadelphia due to weather.
"My flight to Newark has diverted to Philadelphia, in part, the captain says because the Newark tower was evacuated because of a potential tornado risk," he said. "This has been a rough several days since Saturday. More than 6,000 flights canceled, more than 30,000 delayed."
Tuesday's storms caused ground stops, along with hundreds of delays and cancellations at Newark Airport throughout the day.
Travelers are urged to check their flight status before heading out the door.
Stay with CBS News New York for the latest on this developing story.
