Power outage numbers continued to drop slightly across the state Wednesday night after a small increase was seen from morning to noon. According to one utility company, though, residents shouldn't expect power back any time soon from a storm it is comparing to Hurricane Katrina.
JCP&L reported in a release on Wednesday that the majority of customers will be restored within the next seven days. However, it could take up to two weeks for customers in the hardest-hit areas to regain power, the company said.
JCP&L reported 940,999 of its nearly 1.1 million customers remained in the dark as of about 9:22 p.m. on Wednesday, according to its outage map. The number includes 264,061 in Monmouth; 202,655 in Ocean; 73,388 in Middlesex; 23,880 in Union; and 16,442 in Mercer.
The utility company said in a release Wednesday that it has restored power to nearly 160,000, or about 20 percent, of its customers.
Atlantic Electric reported that more than 70,000 are still without power in Manahawkin, Ocean City, Galloway, Atlantic City and other points in South Jersey.
“The damage from Hurricane Sandy far exceeds what we saw from Hurricane Irene or the October 2011 snowstorm,” said Don Lynch, president of JCP&L, in a release. “While we were better prepared for Hurricane Sandy, the damage rivals that experienced during Hurricane Katrina, one of our nation’s most devastating and expensive hurricanes. In preparing for Hurricane Sandy, we positioned 1,600 line crews and 1,200 forestry professionals prior to the storm even making landfall.”
At the peak, more than 1 million of JCP&L’s 1.1 million customers were without power.
I do not see even one JCPL truck in the area for the last 4 days but see PSEG trucks every now and then. This company should be banned from the region.
I will file a complaint with the State BPU. No updates, inadequate preparation, vague recorded messages, excessive wait for restoration. I will also ask the Mayor and Congressman Smith to hold hearings.
First tree teams go in and clear the debris. Then the electric guys can get in and restore the lines. They start with all emergency places. hospitals, nursing homes, police, fire, EMS etc. Then they start with the businesses, gas stations, food stores, pharmacies, etc. all the other businesses are brought back with these along with any private homes on the same "circuit". Next they start to do homeowners that are easy to get to and where trees and debris have been removed. Here we have some people that are a mile off the road and those are last as the electric company sees their driveways (may be poles on them) as private property. I have lived in two towns up here, one has some sections with the lines underground (me), but it did not matter, lines went down anyway, no electric. Now have an automatic generator has made life a lot easier. I am praying for all of you.
then i drive down St.Lawrence and there are ambulances down side streets for body recovery.... So all you complaining about JCP&L and no power....go drive around and see how freaking lucky you are.... SELFISH SELFISH SELFISH Mfers YOU PPL MAKE ME SICK... WHY DON'T YOU DO WHAT MY KIDS AND I DID YESTERDAY...GO TO THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN TOMS RIVER AND VOLUNTEER TO THE HOMELESS PPL THAT LOST THEIR HOUSE.... SHUT UP
This was a huge disaster, no doubt about it. But JCP&L is criminally culpable for their lack of preparation before the storm and for their slow recovery effort after the storm.
This was a huge disaster, no doubt about it. But JCP&L is criminally culpable for their lack of preparation before the storm and for their slow recovery effort after the storm.
I will re-build my house stronger, better and somehow...more water proof...over the next months or year. I have seen the JCP&L trucks only a few miles away and those guys look like they are working hard to me. Anyone who thinks they are not trying their best is not looking at the actual workers. After this is all cleaned up, I most definitely will be looking for a better source of power than my small gas generator for the next crisis. We live and learn...try to stay positive folks! wishes, R
R
I sympathize with those at the shore and the areas with worst devastation. Living with no power pales in comparison to losing everything. Good to have that perspective. It does not change the fact that JCPL is doing a very slow job of getting power back on in the state of NJ.