3,300 Without Power, Brick Police Warn About Live Wires

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township police are warning motorists to stay away from power lines brought down overnight by nearly a foot of heavy, wet snow that blanketed the township Thursday morning.

More than 3,300 homes and businesses in Brick were without power as of 9 a.m., according to Jersey Central Power & Light. More than 26,000 were without electric across Ocean County, some since 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. The company has not given an estimate of when power would be restored.

Brick Township received 10.5 inches of snow, according to a trained spotter who reported it to the National Weather Service Mount Holly office.

"There are many downed electrical and utility wires, crews are out making repairs," Brick Township police said in a Nixle alert. "DO NOT approach or drive over ANY down wires."

JCP&L said line and forestry crews are working with crews from other FirstEnergy Utility Companies, out-of-state mutual assistance crews and contractor crews to restore customers to service as safely and quickly as possible. Additional resources are also being deployed to the affected areas from northern New Jersey.

If you are without electricity, call JCP&L at 888-544-4877 or text OUT to 544487 to report your outage.

Officials said the following services are closed or canceled Thursday:

• Brick Garbage and recycling pickup is canceled. Collections will be on a one-day delay for the remainder of the week.
• Brick Township Senior Services activities are canceled.
• All Brick Recreation Department events and activities for Thursday. Family movie night scheduled for Friday, March 23, is still on. The movie is "Monster Trucks."
• The Ocean County Superior Court in Toms River is on a delayed opening at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
• All branches of the Ocean County Library are closed Thursday.
• Ocean County College is closed.

Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff