By karl vilacoba
Staff Writer
BRICK –– Students at the Lake Riviera Middle School were sent home early Thursday, after a lightning strike cut off power to the building.
A bolt of lightning hit Jersey Central Power & Light Co. equipment on the corner of Shorrock Street and Beaverson Boulevard around noon, causing downed power lines, a brief power outage and disrupted traffic light service at the intersection, according to Brick Township Police Department Lt. Douglas Kinney.
All of the school’s sixth- to eighth-grade students were sent home following the incident. Buses were sent to the school, Beaverson Boulevard, to pick up students early.
"Every child was asked if they had someone at home to let them in, a neighbor who could let them in or some other emergency plan," said Jennifer Strano, of the Brick Township School District’s Community Relations Office. "There were only a handful of students who didn’t know what to do. They were escorted to the library and allowed to call their parents at work or at home."
Thursday was only the second day of the school year in Brick. Lake Riviera Middle School’s full-day schedule begins at 7:40 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m.
"To just keep the kids there for two hours without power would have been unproductive," Strano said.
Police and JCP&L workers responded to the scene, and power resumed moments after the students left.
There were no injuries as a result of the lighting, Kinney said.