Strong winds toppled trees and even uprooted entire lawns.
One woman saw the damage for the first time.
Marilyn Walsh and her husband John arrived home to their Crestwood Village house to find a 4-story tree crashed in their front yard. They had been in New York at their grandchild's graduation, and had seen the damage on TV.
"I couldn't believe it. We were shocked. Totally shocked," said Marilyn Walsh.
"When you see it on television, you can't relate, but until you really come and look at it first hand, it's really unbelievable," John Walsh said.
Crews have been working non-stop in Whiting pulling huge trees from rooftops, cutting tree limbs and hauling them away after Wednesday night's violent storm.
"It was crazy. I couldn't even see out the windows last night," said Fred Reich. "It got to a point where you couldn't see anything, and all I heard was cracking and crashing."
Police have identified the man who was killed in his car on Route 571 by a falling tree Wednesday as 69 year old Henry Burton of Sayreville.
Rita Kapiloff had the tree in her yard glance off her as she watched it fall from her garage.
"I was standing here, and a branch came down and hit me here and here. Hit me on my forehead," explained Rita.
The damage is stunning and it's left yards all over the area a mess; trees torn out of the ground or snapped and broken limbs litter the lawns.
It estimated at least 40 homes in Manchester Township were damaged by falling trees like the one on Chelsea Drive, where several roof trusses were compromised.
"You'll see some penetration through the sheetrock in the ceiling of the house, so there's a significant amount of structural damage on the place," said Ray Lopez.
Although the National Weather Service says the storm was not a tornado, there are doubters.
"I'm from Kansas originally, so I'm familiar with funnel clouds and everything like that, and I cannot be convinced this was not a tornado," said Jolene Lawson.
The yard is a mess, but Marilyn Walsh is convinced someone was protecting her house while she was away.
"My angel," said Marilyn.
