ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- UPDATE: (4:50p) Tens of thousands are still with out electricity because of a storm downing trees and power lines in New Jersey.
About 38,000 Atlantic City Electric customers are still without power, mostly in Atlantic, Cape May and Salem counties.
Public Service Electric & Gas reported an additional 7,700 outages across the state at the height of the storm.
Jersey Central Power & Light had an additional 4,000 people without power in Monmouth and Ocean counties earlier in the day.
High winds and heavy rain lashed New Jersey on Monday, chasing residents from their homes in coastal sections of Cape May County, flooding roadways, leaving nearly 50,000 people without electricity, and fanning the flames of a fatal fire in Newark.
Winds were gusting over 50 mph in many parts of the state, knocking down trees that left tens of thousands of people without electricity.
In Cape May County, West Wildwood declared a state of emergency due to flooding, but did not insist that residents evacuate. The situation was the same in much of New Jersey's southernmost county, according to emergency management director Francis McCall.
``There's flooding on all the barrier islands,'' he said. ``People have left on their own, but it wasn't mandatory.''
The foul weather also prevented the resumption of a Coast Guard search for a female passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship off Atlantic City Sunday night. The Norwegian Dawn was headed for Bermuda from New York City when the incident occurred approximately 45 miles northeast of Atlantic City.
The Coast Guard launched two helicopter crews Sunday night, which searched for two hours before returning to base due to the weather. A Coast Guard spokesman said the storm remained too severe to resume the search on Monday.
Coast Guard boats and a helicopter from New Jersey also rescued two people from a research boat began breaking up and taking on water off the coast of Delaware Monday morning. A rescue line was lowered from the helicopter and the two crew members of the Russell W. Peterson were lifted off the deck to safety at 10:42 a.m.
Atlantic City Electric reported that more than 38,000 customers were without power as of midday Monday, most of them in Atlantic, Cape May and Salem counties.
An additional 4,000 people were without power in Monmouth and Ocean counties as of midday, Jersey Central Power & Light Co. said.
The strong winds were a contributing factor in a fatal fire Monday morning in Newark, fanning the flames of a blaze that killed a 50-year-old man and left 35 other people homeless in three buildings.
Winds knocked trees down across the state, blocking roadways and dragging power lines down. Portions of several highways including Route 35 in Aberdeen and Routes 1 and 9 in Newark were closed periodically because of flooding.
Incoming flights were delayed by nearly 2 hours at Newark Liberty International Airport due to bad weather.
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