A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for the state until 10 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Thousands of homes and businesses were without power in New Jersey Friday evening, hours after a string of strong thunderstorms swept through the state.
The late Friday afternoon storms brought hail and damaging winds, which toppled trees and knocked down power lines. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for northern parts of New Jersey and a statewide severe thunderstorm watch, both of which will expire at 10 p.m.
As of 7:45, Jersey Central Power and Light is reporting dozens of outages, affecting close to 7,000 customers.
Public Service Enterprise Group says around 9,000 of its customers are without power due to heavy rain and strong winds, according to spokeswoman Nicole Swan.
Power should be restored to Essex and Passaic counties by midnight, Swan said. PSE&G's southern coverage areas should get power back by 3 a.m., at the latest, she said.
"We have additional crews on to work through the night," Swan said.
Just over 100 customers of Atlantic City Electric are without power. The company expects to return power to most by 11 p.m.
Large hail, up to 1 inch in diameter, was reported by trained weather observers in Hainesport and Lumberton in Burlington County and Hackensack in Bergen County, and 1.25-inch diameter hail was reported in Eastampton Township in Burlington County. Numerous water rescues were reported by emergency dispatchers in Vineland in Cumberland County at about 5:30 p.m.
Multiple trees and power lines were toppled in Fairfield in Essex County, the weather service reported, and a large tree was uprooted in Cedar Grove, falling onto three cars and a house.
The storms also dumped a deluge of rain, as much as 3 inches in some towns in as little as three hours, causing flash flooding, the weather service said.
Video: A large tree rips down wires and crushed a car during a storm over Cedar Grove, NJ @ranjisinha pic.twitter.com/vCXHzNm3Kc via @breaking
-- SusanDHarris (@PoetKeats) July 1, 2016
Good times out here on the backroads of Gloucester County, NJ. This #storm is a beauty @weatherchannel @Jeep #jersey pic.twitter.com/mfncDXj4CE
-- Anthony Coppola (@AVCoppola) July 1, 2016
Dramatic Storm damage across Cedar Grove NJ @News12NJ #NJTonight pic.twitter.com/1jKIEZTemz
-- Ranji Sinha (@ranjisinha) July 1, 2016
@GarySzatkowski Hainesport where I am right now pic.twitter.com/4mHjr5CQHP
-- NJ Weather Blogs (@NJWeatherBlogs) July 1, 2016
Decent size hail that fell in Hainesport #NJ. @NWS_MountHolly pic.twitter.com/MmXLrQ9EaO
-- NJ Weather Blogs (@NJWeatherBlogs) July 1, 2016
Staff writer Len Melisurgo contributed to this report.
Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig. Find NJ.com on Facebook.