Hail piles up like snow in NJ

  Eyewitness News

WESTWOOD, N.J. (WABC) -- Roads covered in white, neighbors shoveling sidewalks and kids building snowmen. It was like December in June.

A freak thunderstorm rained buckets of hail on parts of North Jersey, burying entire neighborhoods under a blanket of white.

More than 3 inches of hail on Westwood and nearby communities in central and eastern Bergen County Monday afternoon.

Mike Pressler, a battalion chief with the Elmwood Park Fire Department, said he was on the way home from work when his brother called to ask if he could go to Westwood and dig his sister-in-law's car out of a pile of hail.

Marble-sized hail fell in Washington Township during the storm that one resident described as a blizzard.

Residents broke out snow blowers to dig out. Even a few cars got stuck.

"I'm flabbergasted. Here it is June and it looks like January," one resident said.

The June storm caught many people by surprise.

"About six inches of hail actually washed down the street," another resident said.

For some people, it wasn't the hail but the flooding that caused the worst headaches.

Eyewitness News found one homeowner trying to figure out how to get eight inches of water out of the basement.

"It's a tremendous amount of damage downstairs. Everything in my basement is flooded," she said.

The storm also knocked down trees in Ridgewood and flooded Route 17 in Ho-Ho-Kus.

Some homes also sustained wind damage. The hail also wiped out some of the landscaping.

Lee Goldberg explains what happened in his video blog (CLICK HERE)

You can also view pictures of the hail sent from Eyewitness News viewers by clicking here.

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