Power Restored In Howell, Lakewood

HOWELL, NJ — (Updated, 6:30 p.m.) An issue with a major substation that serves portions of Monmouth and Ocean counties knocked out power to about 13,000 homes and businesses in Howell, Lakewood, Brick and Jackson on Monday, officials said.

The issue with the substation arose at 2:52 p.m., said Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for First Energy, the parent company of Jersey Central Power & Light. Surgeoner said the substation is one of the major ones in the area.

Power was restored by about 5:30 p.m.

"We do not have a cause yet but crews are on the scene trying to determine what happened," Surgeoner said about 4 p.m.

The outage knocked out traffic signals along several major roads, including the entire length of County Line Road between Jackson and Brick, Lakewood police said, and along Route 9, according to Howell Township police.

"Traffic lights on (Route) 9 are out from Stanley Boulevard south," Howell police said. "Be prepared for delays."

Lakewood police urged motorists to avoid County Line Road if at all possible. There are police officers along the road, police said.

Surgeoner did not have a specific estimate of when power will be restored; the First Energy outage website is estimating between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. He said if crews are unable to pinpoint the cause they will begin restoring power as quickly as possible.

Nearly 8,000 of JCP&L's 21,000 Howell customers and more than 4,400 of Lakewood's 32,000 customers were affected. There were 575 homes in Brick without power as well, according to the outage website.

This is a breaking news report and will be updated.

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