While Hurricane Irene is still 150 miles south west of Atlantic City, bands of torrential rain and short-lived tornadoes are hitting Monmouth and Ocean counties.

More than 70,000 people are reported without power in the two counties, and the brunt of the hurricane isn’t expected to hit the area until between 8 and 10 a.m. Sunday.

Several municipalities, including Asbury Park, Long Branch, Belmar, Tinton Falls and Neptune City imposed curfews that began Saturday evening, barring cars from their roads during the storm. Earlier in the day, thousands were evacuated from low-lying coastal areas.

Ocean County Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Donna Flynn said Saturday night that reports of flooding in northern Ocean County include Arnold Avenue and Broadway in Point Pleasant Beach, Osborne Avenue in Bay Head and in the Bayville area in Berkeley.

“A lot of this is a combination of rain and tidal flooding,” Flynn said, adding there are close to 50 downed trees throughout the county, including in Toms River, Jackson and Stafford.

Power is out in the central part of Toms River, from Route 71 to James Street over Route 9 and out to Hooper Avenue, Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said, and there is flooding throughout the township.

In Monmouth County, spokesman Bill Heine reported power outages and downed trees. Stage Coach Road between Ely Harmony Road and Monmouth Road in Upper Freehold was closed because of a blown transformer. Ocean Avenue in Belmar is also closed and a downed wire caused a power outage along Route 35 south of the Asbury circle.

Irene is expected to pass very close to the New Jersey coast tonight into Sunday morning, with gusts to nearly 100 mph over coastal waters, dangerous flooding and severe beach erosion expected, according to the National Weather Service.

As of 11 p.m. the eye of the storm was southeast of Ocean City, Md., National Weather Service meteorologist Al Cope said. The storm was moving north, northeast at 16 miles per hour. Wind gusts were measured at 46 mph in Belmar and 55 mph in Lakehurst, and they are expected to gradually increase, Cope said.

(Source: APP)