Power was still being restored to Jersey Power & Light customers in Hunterdon County on Aug. 15, 2016, three days after a strong thunderstorm passed through the region. Watch video
Power is still being restored to Jersey Central Power & Light customers in Hunterdon County on Monday morning, three days after a strong thunderstorm passed through the region.
Friday's storm caused outages to over 10,000 customers - mostly in Hunterdon and Ocean counties - just as the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning on what became the hottest weekend of the year.
JCP&L's efforts to update customers on the status of efforts to restore power was criticized by some customers. As of Monday morning, 81 in Hunterdon County remain without power.
Reaction from customers, as well as municipal and state leaders, to the lack of information and length of time to restore power to thousands after Hurricane Sandy led to JCP&L updating the ways it informs customers of outages, and to the development of plans to speed up restoration of power.
"JCP&L has insulated itself from their customers so that impacted customers have absolutely no way to get any restoration status information," Hunterdon County resident David Hirsch wrote in an email to NJ Advance Media on Sunday. "It seems like JCP&L's only take away from Hurricane Sandy, where this community waited 11 days for power restoration, is how to direct contact with its customers.
Strong storm leaves thousands without power
"JCP&L has been completely unresponsive, changing estimated restoration times more than eight times over 35 hours until they stopped providing them (Saturday) night after they missed the 11 p.m. restoration estimate. Restoration times started Friday evening and went from 9 p.m., 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 12 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m., 11 p.m., and then they stopped making any."
Many in Hunterdon County lost power because a substation in a wooded area was damaged by the storm, Christy Hajoway, a spokesperson for the power company, told New Jersey 101.5.
"Crews are working around the clock to make those repairs," Hajoway said, adding that additional crews were called in to assist in making repairs. Compounding the problem were additional outages caused by downed wires, she said.
While many took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about the lack of information on when power would be back on, others thanked the efforts of the repair crews.
"Way to go crews!" John A Bonanni wrote. "JCP&L thanks for finally getting off your butt and informing your customers."
Rachael Iannucci Kanapka wrote: "Thank you to the hardworking linesmen and workers who are working to remedy this. Shouldn't JCP&L be investing more in updating the local distribution lines and substations to prevent outages like these? It seems this is happening a lot lately... shouldn't we proactively fix the problems?"
Hirsch said the outage "ultimately fried multiple appliances, that I know of from generator tests, including washer, TVs, pumps, etc. We won't know full extent of damage until power is restored."
Water and ice will still be available to customers that remain without service, JCP&L reported, asking customers to show identification at the customer service desk at the following locations:
- Kings Food Markets, 531 Route 22 east, Whitehouse Station, 908-534-6888
- ShopRite of Flemington, 272 routes 202 and 31, Raritan Township, 908-782-2553
- ShopRite of Clinton, 50 Walmart Plaza, Clinton, 908-730-6800
- ShopRite of Greenwich, 1297 Route 22, Phillipsburg, 908-454-8086
Those requiring any further assistance can contact the Hunterdon County Office of Emergency Management at 908-788-1196. Contact information from those seeking assistance will be forwarded to a municipal Office of Emergency Management for further action.
Friday's severe storms swept through just after 6 p.m. and left more than 10,000 without power, according to JCP&L. Those affected included all of Frenchtown, Stockton and Kingwood, and most of those in Delaware Township. A large number of customers in Flemington and Raritan Township were also without power.
The storm was the latest in a series to hit Central Jersey in recent weeks. A line of strong line of thunderstorms brought heavy rain, wind and lightening to the area on Thursday.
Earlier, on July 30 and 31, thunderstorms caused flooding throughout Hunterdon County and forced the early-closure of the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning.
Strong thunderstorms on July 25 also caused widespread flooding and damage throughout Hunterdon and Somerset counties, including a reported microburst in Branchburg.
