Thunderstorms May Pose Problems as South Jersey Recovers From Tuesday' Storm

About 245,000 of the 280,000 Atlantic City Electric customers that lost power following Tuesday night’s storm have had their power restored, but the threat of thunderstorms Saturday night brings with it the possibility of more outages.

Rain was likely throughout the day on Saturday, with thunderstorms possible Saturday night. Trees and limbs that are already weakened from Tuesday night’s storm may fall, resulting in additional outages. Atlantic City Electric workers and contractors working on clean up can work through the rain, but work would have to be suspended in the event of thunder and lightning.

Atlantic City Electric officials advised residents on Saturday afternoon that if they experience more outages, they need to be reported.

Even customers with existing outages are urged to keep calling Atlantic City Electric at 1-800-833-7476 to make sure their outages continue to be reported, even if they have reported them previously.

Customers’ reports are vital to Atlantic City Electric’s restoration efforts because — combined with other customer calls and Atlantic City Electric’s technology — it helps the company precisely identify the remaining locations without power and speeds restoration.

Atlantic City Electric officials said they remain on target to have full restoration complete by midnight Sunday into Monday.

As of Saturday afternoon, the highest number of outages remained in Gloucester County, where there were 18,493 customers still without power. In Camden County, there were 9,048 customers who still didn’t have power. There were 4,129 in Burlington County.

Salem County’s outages were down to 4 percent, while Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean and Cumberland counties remained at 1 percent.

One percent of PSE&G customers in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties remained without power Saturday morning.

Power outages have been rampant throughout South Jersey since a devastating storm tore through the area Tuesday night.

At the height of the outages, 280,000 Atlantic City Electric customers were without power, a higher total than that reported during the derecho of 2012 and Superstorm Sandy.

This was due to eight substations that had been knocked out, but all eight had been restored by Saturday afternoon.

In support of Atlantic City Electric, the American Red Cross has opened reception centers in three counties. The locations and times are:

Gloucester County:

· 10:30 A.M. – 8:00 P.M. at Gloucester County Complex, 1200 N. Delsea Drive, Clayton, N.J.

· 10:30 A.M. – 8:00 P.M. at Mt. Royal Firehouse, 5 Mantua Blvd., Mt Royal, N.J.

· Residents can visit for a cooling center, to get ice and water and to charge cell phones. EMS also will be there in case medical assistance may be needed.

Camden County:

The Camden County Office of Emergency Management will distribute water to their local municipalities.

Burlington County:

Burlington County will be using the Shamong Township Fire Department at 48 Willow Grove Road, Shamong, to offer water from 10:30 A.M. – 8:00 P.M.

On Saturday, Atlantic City Electric announced it was making a $50,000 donation to the Red Cross.