Thousands still remained without power heading into the weekend across storm-weary North Jersey, including some who were restored and later lost power again Friday morning, following a severe storm Wednesday that stirred up powerful winds, leaving downed power lines and trees in its wake.
Winds gusted over 70 mph in the thick of the storm as hail and rain pummeled the area, leaving over 50,000 without power by Thursday morning. Just shy of noon on Friday, over 7,000 residents in North Jersey remained in the dark across several utility companies, including Jersey Central Power of Light and PSE&G. The majority of customers out were in Passaic, Warren, Morris and Sussex counties as utility crews worked around the clock to bring people back online.
Jersey Central Power and Light was reporting nearly 3,200 customers in Warren County without power, but despite estimated restoration times stretched as far as Saturday evening, outage numbers were continuing to drop, albeit a bit slower, later Friday morning. In Morris County, nearly 2,000 residents were without power as of noon on Friday, with those numbers dropping slowly as well.
But in Passaic County, outage numbers continued to fluctuate, with over 2,600 in the dark around noon on Friday — a major jump from around 200 earlier in the morning.
Wanaque Police Department in Passaic County took to Facebook around 10 a.m. on Friday, advising residents that power had been restored to the area around 8 a.m., but went back out around 10 a.m.
"This is unacceptable," the department posted. "The Borough will be following up with JCP&L to have a discussion as to why we keep experiencing outages."
The department stated that while they continued to push JCP&L to restore during the overnight hours, crews were unable to work on the outage due to the "location and damage."
They added, "We know it is frustrating for our residents, and we will push JCP&L to do the necessary improvements to their system to provide safe and reliable electric service to our residents."
Chris Hoenig, a spokesperson for JCP&L, said Friday afternoon that there was a report of power being restored and then back out in Passaic, but said the cause is being investigated.
While he wasn't immediately sure of the reason for the irregularities in power in this case, he noted that sometimes it isn't always apparent in a visual inspection to spot a weakened line.
"In storm mode, we make repairs, we reenergize," Hoenig explained. "Sometimes, there's weakened points down the line that that you can't tell just by looking at it."
A power line can be damaged in multiple points along a circuit, which can generate power to thousands of customers, with damage not seen until crews investigate thoroughly. While a downed tree on a line is obvious, tree limbs hitting a line and bouncing off or wires slapping in the wind can cause damage not easily seen, he said.
JCP&L's top priority he said is to continue dispatching crews to restore power to all customers in a fastidious manner, Hoenig said.
Police said that claims for spoiled food — a refrigerator can keep food safe for up to four hours during an outage, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — can be reported to the JCP&L website by filling out a "Contact Us" form or by calling them at 1-888-544-4877.
The Wanaque Police Department lobby is open for anyone needing to charge a phone or computer.
In Florham Park in Morris County, where over 370 customers remained without power around noon on Friday, police and emergency officials said a large transformer blew, causing widespread outages.
"JCP&L is still fixing issues from yesterday's storm causing an extended ETA of restoration. It could definitely be sooner, but they are not going to tell us an earlier estimate than they reasonably believe it will be fixed," they posted to Facebook. "Please only call 911 for emergencies, we cannot fix the power and we know as much as you do about restoration times."
Sussex County also had 700 customers out of power and Essex County had just over 630, according to the JCP&L outage map.
Residents in areas with smaller, isolated outages may have to wait a bit longer for power to be restored. In Ogdensburg where 3% of customers were out, customers were advised that the "majority" would be restored by 11:30 p.m. on Saturday — nearly 80 hours after the storm blew through the area. The utility company, in some cases, noted that crews had yet to be assigned to investigate.
PSE&G was reporting just over 100 customers without power in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties. The utility company serves just 74 customers in Morris County, but none were without power as of 11:30 a.m. on Friday.
Internet outages in North Jersey
Residents and businesses across North Jersey are also seeing internet outages, with Optimum reporting over 2,100 customers without power in Morris County, over 2,000 in Passaic County and nearly 660 in Sussex County. Internet was down for just over 120 customers each in Bergen and Essex counties with about 30 in Warren County, according to the Optimum outage map.
As residents await power and internet restoration and clean up storm debris, there are places to charge electronic devices and grab water or ice across the region.
Grocery stores ShopRite, Acme and Kings Food Markets in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties are providing free water and ice to customers in need. Vouchers are located at customer service areas.
Several areas were also open for residents to charge their cellphones or devices, including the Vernon Senior Center in Sussex County and the Sparta 2 Go Center in the Sparta Police Department, open 24 hours a day.
Email: lcomstock@njherald.com; Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH or on Facebook.
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