35K Still Without Power In Morris County: Saturday Storm Update

MORRIS, NJ — Nearly a quarter of Morris County households are without power after a nor'easter hit the county hard on Friday. As of 8:35 p.m. on Saturday, 35,697 homes are still in the dark.

It could take a while for all customers to have their power turned back on. JCP&L's official website has an estimated restore time of 11:30 p.m. on either Tuesday or Wednesday for all towns.

"Based on the severity of the damage and the number of damage locations, this will be a multi-day restoration. Damaged equipment includes more than 200 poles and over 1,000 spans of downed wire along with hundreds of trees. Crews are working around the clock to restore power to all affected customers," JCP&L said in a statement posted online.

Update, Monday 8:25 a.m.: Read an update on current power outages and restoration times here.

Some towns have been hit harder than others: 96 percent of Mendham Borough is without power, while less than five homes in East Hanover are affected (see a full breakdown of outages locations at the bottom of this article). Morris County officials say they are aware of the severity of the outages, and are working with JCP&L to begin restoration efforts, but high winds are causing problems. Nearly 20,000 homes have already had power restored since the peak of the outages Friday afternoon.

"We had many hazardous conditions involving live wires which needed to be prioritized and dealt with as soon as possible. We had many major roadways compromised that needed to be opened as well. The high winds continued to create emergency incidents and increased response efforts. While one emergency was resolved, may more were added," county officials said. "In addition, the high winds created an unsafe and prohibited atmosphere for JCP&L to put workers in bucket trucks for restoration efforts. We appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation throughout this event."

Because of the severity of the outages, JCP&L has activated the residential ice and water program. You can go to any of the listed locations to get water and/or ice. Many towns have set up warming and charging centers for residents (see below for township updates).

5,782 911 calls were made between 6 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, officials said.

Here are local storm updates, as provided by the towns:

Morris Township Police Department

Township residents without power, the Municipal Building warming and charging center will be closing at 5PM today. The Mt. Kemble firehouse located at 1 Springbrook Road will be open for warming and charging starting at 5PM until further notice.

Morristown Police Department

Saturday 3/3/18 Avoid Morris Ave. ( CR 510 ) eastbound near Washington's Headquarters which will be closed to through traffic until further notice. A large tree has fallen on power lines and is completely blocking the roadway. Please plan alternate routes and avoid this area until clean up can be completed.

Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department

Below are the current roads that are closed due to downed power lines, telephone poles and/or trees:

• South Beverwyck Road at Lord Sterling Drive
• Sommerfield Ave and West Park Place in Mount Tabor
• Glenwood Road (Rainbow Lakes)
• Beachwood Road near Brooklawn Middle School
• Hoffman Ave near Iroquois Ave

Warm up or charge your electronic devices today at the following locations.

Main Library

• p. 973.887.5150
• Mon-Thur: 9am-9pm
• Fri & Sat: 9am-5pm
• Sun: 1pm-5pm

Mount Tabor Library

• p. 973.627.9508
• Mon&Wed: 12:30pm - 7:30pm
• Fri & Sat: 9am-1pm
• Closed Tuesday, Thursday, & Sunday

Lake Hiawatha Library

• p. 973.335.0952
• Mon-Thur: 10am-9pm
• Fri & Sat: 10am-5pm
• Closed Sunday

Overnight Warming Station

• Parsippany Community Center
• 1130 Knoll Rd, Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034
• Tonight, March 3rd 9PM-7AM

Also, the Parsippany Community Center will be open as an overnight warming station for those who have been affected by this storm. For details, please call the Parsippany Police Department's non-emergency line at (973) 263-4300.

Mendham Township

A warming Center will be opened for Mendham Township & Mendham Borough Residents from Noon today till 6PM at the Mendham Township Municipal building at 1 Cherry Lane in Brookside. Water and Ice are available at the Mendham Kings or Chester Shoprite at the courtesy desk. If you require a welfare check in Mendham Township, please call our First Aid Squad at 973 543 1212. If you require a welfare check in Mendham Boro, please call their OEM at 973 922 0782 and leave a message.

Mendham Borough

3/3/18 11:37 AM: There will be a warming station available to all Mendham residents in Mendham Township on Cherry Lane at the municipal building from noon until 6 PM today. It will also be available tomorrow, March 4th from 10 AM until 6 PM.

Chester Township

Now that the storm has passed, please keep in mind that there are still numerous road closures and power outages throughout Chester Borough and Township. We recommend that everyone shelters in place for now, however, if you must venture out keep in mind that many intersections that are normally controlled by a traffic signal do not have power. This means that those intersections are to be considered 4 -Way Stop Intersections. The Chester Springs Mall entrance and exit will be a right turn only intersection until power can be restored.

The renovated barn at Highlands Ridge Park will open as a warming center on Saturday, March 3rd from 12:00-4:00pm. With a generator, the Barn offers warmth, working bathrooms, running water, a fireplace, light refreshments, and a place to charge your devices. If you would like to stop by the Barn, please take care traveling on local roads.

Reminder to please check on your neighbors, particularly those who do not have generators, Internet/phone access, or who are elderly or disabled. Please help to keep them informed and safe.

Denville

If you live near any downed power lines or utility poles, please STAY AWAY, as they may still be energized and very dangerous. If you are using a generator, please make sure it is placed outside of your home and well ventilated to prevent against any carbon monoxide exposure. If any residents are in need of special assistance as a result of the storm for medical or other reasons, please contact the Denville Police at 973-627-4900, ext 9.

Hanover

Hanover Township will have a Warming and Charging Center at the Hanover Township Municipal Complex for Hanover Township Residents without power due to storm on March 2, 2018. Please contact the Hanover Police Desk at 973-428-2512 for hours of operation.

Jefferson

As of this morning, a few roads are still closed due to downed trees and wires. Please use extreme caution when driving as snow removal and clean up operations continue throughout the township.

At this time the following roads are closed or partially closed:

• Berkshire Valley Road and Rt. 15 North and South Intersection has no traffic lights.
• Lower Berkshire Valley Road until Minisink Road is closed.
• Minisink Road is closed
• East Shore Road at Tulip is closed

The high winds have diminished and power crews have started the restoration process but cannot give an estimated time of when full power will be restored in the township.
The Municipal Building at 1033 Weldon Road is open 24/7 as a warming and charging center.

Montville

Due to the strong winds Power crews are unable to utilize the boom trucks needed to begin restoration work on many of the overhead lines and poles. This means it will be an extended period of time before many roadways can be opened. We do not anticipate power being restored to areas that are out of power before tomorrow.

We encourage all residents who do not have heat to attempt to seek shelter with friends or relatives. Should this not be possible and the conditions become necessary we will open a warming center at the Montville Senior House. We do not have sleeping or sheltering accommodations. This is only a place to keep warm and stay out of the elements.

Charging station and warming centers have been established at Montville Public Library, 90 Horseneck Road, Montville. & Montville Senior Center 360 Main Road, Montville. These facilities will be open during the day today and further hours will be announced as needed.

Current Road closures as of 12 noon.-Jacksonville Road at Chapel Court.-PineBrook Road between Douglas and Foremost-PeaceValley Road-Brook Valley Jacksonville to Fidelian

• Waughaw Ward Witty to Indian Lane
• Pepper Rd
• Roome Rd.
• Vista Rd.
• Hillcrest off Changebridge
• Passaic Valley Horseneck to Fawn

Washington Township:

The Washington Township Senior Center at 34 East Springtown Road, will be opening as a warming/charging shelter at 7:00 am on Saturday. In addition to the Washington Township Senior Center, the WT Public Library is also open today through 5pm as a warming/charging location.

List of Township roads closed:

Outages By Town

The county shared tips to help with restoration efforts:

• Please DO not call 911 unless you have a true emergency. Our 911 professionals are not in a position to engage you in conversation with regard to when power will be restored.
• Register your power outage via the JCP&L site. This should take place regardless if you are aware of other outages in your area. Every outage should be registered so it can be tracked. To report outages, call 1-888-LIGHTSS (888-544-4877), go to www.jcp-l.com, or click on the “Report Outage” link on www.firstenergycorp.com.
• Morris County Municipal Coordinators in all of our Morris County municipalities have identified warming stations for residents should they be necessary. Please check your local municipalities website for site location and hours of operation.
• As of this morning, there were some 48,000 JCP&L customers without power, including some customers in most of the county’s 39 towns. [Editor's note: that number has gone down, to 35,697 as of 8:35 p.m. Saturday.]

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