The deadly thunderstorm that blasted New Jersey last night, drenching major portions of central Jersey.

The burrow of Waang saw the heaviest rain totals.

Up to six and a half inches of rain fell in just a few hours with other towns seeing similar levels that turned streets into rivers and neighborhoods into lakes.

Union, Somerset, and Middle Sex counties experienced the worst of it.

And Planefield Township is reeling today after the devastating deaths of two women who were trapped in a car that became submerged by flood waters and then swept into Cedarbrook.

According to township officials, it's the second fatal storm in just two weeks, taking the lives of five people in total from the area.

First responders carried out rescue operations across several towns as people were stranded in cars and buses in the rapidly rising flood waters.

The governor declared a state of emergency for all 21 counties last night.

Routes 22 and 28 saw some of the worst flooding and both roads were closed this morning so officials could clear debris and damage.

Several thousand homes were without power with PSEG customers hit the hardest.

As the water receded, city and state officials and residents took stock of the devastation and began their cleanup efforts.

Ted Goldberg went to some of the hardest hit areas.

Ted, what did you see and hear today?

Joanna, the aftermath from last night's storm is equal parts scary and also eye-catching.

For much of the day here in North Planefield, folks have been getting out of their cars and taking pictures of what used to be a sidewalk.

Folks I've spoken to in North Planefield and in surrounding areas have been spending today trying to get their lives back together after all the rain that came down last night.

This is an ongoing thing and it's getting tiring after 25 years.

Irene Cactus and her husband are once again fixing up their house after Stony Brook swelled and surged onto their street.

She says it's happened three times since moving in.

I was like, "Here we go again."

You know, my my husband was going crazy.

Um you know, he was yelling, "Look at these people, blah blah."

You know, that's his nature.

He's always yelling, but I mean, but he's a good man anyway.

And um what can you do?

You know, you just ride it out.

North Planefield is one of several communities drying out after getting around 6 ines of rain within a few hours last night.

Less than two weeks after dramatic windstorms caused damage, you could see car wreckage and damaged power lines throughout central Jersey.

Kagas' fence built two years ago was torn to shreds.

This is a great town.

It's a uh a small community.

It's very diverse and this that's how I like it.

I like different people, things like that, but you know, it's it gets to the point where it's tiresome.

I don't have money every time, you know, to be fixing stuff.

You know, I'm I'm on a fixed income.

These two weeks have been um a little stressful.

Yeah.

Insurance has been very busy with this area.

For this to come on the heels of a devastating storm only 11 days ago is something that is extremely difficult.

At least two people died in Planefield from last night's storm as confirmed by the city's mayor.

These individuals were traveling in a vehicle which was caught in the flood and as a result of obviously the swiftness of the water they were swept away.

Leaders tell me their priorities over the next few days and few weeks are cleaning up the debris that's been left behind like disabled cars in the roadway and also everything that washes up on places like the playground behind me.

Our priority is to make sure that our infrastructure is restored to a state of normaly and that we provide a level of support to our residents that they need.

Flood damage was widespread and this home in North Planefield exploded at around 11:00 last night.

Dai Pouncy lives down the block.

After the torrential downpour of rain, we were a little bit shaken, about to go to sleep.

Um, end the evening and then the next thing we heard was just loud boom.

I didn't know if it was like a tree falling.

We didn't go any further down the block um just because we didn't wasn't sure if it was safe.

But standing on the corner, it looked like the whole block was on fire.

Videos of flooding were all over social media.

Planefield resident Florence Harper watched from her property as Leland Avenue practically turned into a river.

You know, of course, there's absolutely nothing you can do.

You stand there and you just you pray for everybody.

She says her house didn't sustain heavy damage, but she's worried about her neighbors.

Those h houses are on slabs, so when that water starts rushing like that, you you know, they're my neighbors, so I get concerned about their property as well.

Multiple cars got caught up in the flooding.

And Harper says she got frustrated watching drivers think their cars could handle the water.

Don't drive through it.

Look, there's a perfect example of trying to drive through it.

Why would you do that?

And especially in the dark.

In the dark.

Does that make any sense?

Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in all 21 counties last night.

We'll be working with counties and communities to assess level of damage.

We're always trying to figure out whether or not we meet certain federal thresholds.

It's far too early to tell.

He spoke at Berkeley Heights today, another community affected by flooding.

Murphy says that because of climate change, we should expect storms to be more frequent and more intense.

That's the new reality.

And we're getting dragged by this.

we're getting dragged by climate.

Um our our preferred position would be to get out ahead of it, which we've done a lot over the years to, you know, fortify infrastructure.

Water rose by as much as 3 feet in parts of Planefield, which will host a relief benefit concert at its high school Sunday to raise money for victims.

One step towards getting these communities a little closer to normal after a disastrous storm in North Planefield.

I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

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