Howell PD Left Without Power For 26 Hours: Police Chief

HOWELL, NJ — While thousands of Howell Township residents coped with a lack of electricity on Tuesday, searching for places to charge electronics and get cooked meals, the Howell Township Police Department was facing serious challenges in keeping those residents safe.

The police department, too, was without electrical service, after its emergency generator failed. And the department remained without electricity for 26 hours, despite calls to Jersey Central Power & Light, Police Chief Andrew J. Kudrick Jr. said.

"We are not considered a public safety priority," Kudrick said in a video posted to the department's Facebook page about 1 p.m. Wednesday. The department waited another 8 hours for service to be restored, with a member of the department responding to a comment about 9:30 p.m. saying the department had just gotten its power back.

A JCP&L spokesman said Wednesday that for an unknown reason, the Howell Township Police Department was not on its list of critical facilities.

"JCP&L keeps and maintains a comprehensive list of thousands of critical facilities across our service territories," said Christopher Eck, a senior communications representative for the electric company. The list is kept "in conjunction with county offices of emergency management and others."

"For some reason, the Howell Township Police Department has never been added to this list, although first responders are on the list as a matter of course," Eck said. "They will be added to the critical facilities list today to prevent this from happening in the future."

Eck said the power outage was not reported by the police station, "so we had no order in the system to address their outage," which was in the area hardest hit by the storm.

"We ask all customers call to report their outages, but during busy times, it might not be possible to get through," he said. Eck said that if police department personnel were trying to call with a cell phone, it may not have worked. "We’ve heard Verizon was having cell tower issues in that area yesterday after the storm, as well," he said.

There were still more than 4,100 homes and businesses in Howell without power as of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the JCP&L website. That number had fallen to just over 2,200 as of 4:30 p.m. with just under 15,000 without electricity across Monmouth County.

Kudrick said the township suffered severe damage, with dozens of trees down on wires and blocking roads. The Freewood Acres section was hardest hit, he said.

Two trees hit homes, and two others fell on vehicles, including one that had people inside it, but Kudrick said there were no substantial injuries as a result of the storm.

Gov. Phil Murphy toured the Freewood Acres section with Kudrick, Howell Mayor Theresa Berger, Councilman John Bonevich, Township Manager Brian Geoghegan and OEM Official Victor Cook late Tuesday afternoon.

"I want to thank Governor Murphy for taking time out of his schedule this afternoon to visit police headquarters," Kudrick said in a separate post on Facebook. "He had an opportunity to meet our dedicated communications personnel and witness the challenges faced when power is lost and not restored within a critical infrastructure."

"We were faced with a pretty large obstacle in policing the township," the police chief said, but added that residents and first responders had come together to help clear trees from roads, and to help each other, for which he was grateful.

"We greatly appreciate everyone coming together and working as one," Kudrick said.

Ice and water are available at the Howell ShopRite and the Acme in Freehold. The main meeting room at town hall on Route 9 offers a place to charge electronic devices.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

• 'Multi-Day' Restoration For Power In Howell: JCP&L
• Get Gas, Food, Charge Your Phone During Power Outage In Howell
• Free Ice, Water For Those Without Power In Monmouth County: JCP&L
• 'This May Be Multiple Days:' Storm Winds Hammer Howell

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