UPDATE: Evacuation Center Closes in Holmdel

Officials are reporting the following conditions in Holmdel Township: 

Weather conditions from the National Weather Service: As of Sunday night, Holmdel is under Tropical Storm Warning, Flood Warning and Hazardous Weather Outlook. Monday is expected to be sunny, with a high near 78, and a northwest wind around 8 mph. 

Holmdel High School Evacuation Center: During the night power was lost, and an emergency generator failed, said Office of Emergency Director Michael Simpson. "But we had a small one, we rigged up a light on a pole and we got through the night, eventually," he said. The fire company had to come pump out water running off the playing fields that overwhelmed drains and threatened to crest the back loading dock. By 2 p.m. Sunday, residents from evacuated Bayshore towns were able to return home or took transfers to another Red Cross evacuation center at Colts Neck High School. 

Power: According to JCP&L, 4797 Holmdel households were without power at 10:16 p.m. Sunday night. The police department was operating on generator power until about noon on Sunday, when power was restored. Many residents said they experienced outages in the middle of the night. 

Also according to JCP&L, other neighboring towns without power: Hazlet, 1966; Middletown, 3976; Red Bank, 5639; Colts Neck,3895; Aberdeen, 341; Matawan, 4426; Keyport, 380. 

Police Response: Holmdel Township Police responded to 84 incidents since midnight Saturday, most of them about tree limbs in the roadway and some stranded motorists, according to Holmdel PD Lt. Michael Smith. 

Flooding: At some point Saturday night into Sunday, Route 35 was unpassable. One motorist tried to cross Middle Road at Allocco Park in Holmdel, and got stuck in flooding at the Waackaack Creek when it crested a small bridge; another motorist was stranded on Route 35 at a dip in the road near Safeguard Storage. Water pooled at Palmer Avenue near Target, which frequently floods, as well as other streets such as the intersection of Telegraph Hill Road and Heyward Hill Dr.  

Fire: Between the township's two fire companies, members responded to "at least 50 calls" during the worst of the storm, said Holmdel Fire & Rescue Chief John Boyle, Sr. The Centerville Road squad got very little sleep last night. They were responding to trees falling on wires, alarms triggered by on-again off-again power outages, small transformer fires and stranded motorists who drove into flooded areas. "With the police, we actually pulled someone from a car from a flooded section of Route 35," he said.

At any given time, there were two engines on the road. Also used was the Tower 90 truck, a support vehicle. A borrowed boat was not used. 

A small fire at 27 Spring Valley Drive at 7:30 a.m was caused by candles used during a power outage. An end table was damaged. Firefighters responded but were not needed. 

They spent a considerable amount of time assisting volunteers at the shelter at Holmdel High School, when the nearly catastrophic flood of water cascading from the fields overwhelmed the drains and threatened to seep into the school through the back door.