Power Will Be Back This Weekend For Much Of Morris County

MORRIS, NJ — After thousands spend the week without power, JCP&L says the wait is almost over: those who lost power last Friday will see it restored by Saturday night, and those who lost it this week will see it restored by Wednesday, March 14.

Some isolated homes might remain without power past March 14, but the "majority" of homes will have it restored by then, the company said. As of 12:43 p.m. on Friday, 26,601 customers are without, down from 45,000 Thursday afternoon. 11,000 of those are still out from the first storm. (See below for a town-by-town breakdown of current outages.)

"Crews worked throughout the day yesterday and overnight on restoring additional customers who have been out since Riley. They've also been addressing road closures and hazards from Quinn. This work will continue 24/7 until all customers are restored. More crews are arriving today to join the 4400+ workers already working on service restoration," JCP&L said in a Friday morning statement.

Lack of restoration times frustrated customers throughout northern New Jersey, many of whom have been without power for over a week. (One man was so frustrated he allegedly threatened to bomb a JCP&L power substation.) Many had been told their power would be back on by Thursday, an estimate that was pushed back after a second storm pummeled the area.

JCP&L defended their handling of the storms, however, saying the intensity of the winds and amount of snow make it impossible to move any faster.

"These back-to-back nor’easters packed a devastating punch to the electric system that far surpassed a normal snowstorm, particularly in the heavily forested area of [northern New Jersey]. The high winds and large accumulations of heavy, wet snow created road closures, treacherous conditions and extensive tree and equipment damage," the company said.

They continued, "We were ready for these storms and took decisive steps to deploy resources in areas we expected to be hardest hit. We also secured additional personnel in advance, had equipment ready to go and had storm response plans in place based on weather forecasts."

Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered a state review of the utility companies' handling of the back-to-back storms, and to see if they adhered to post-Sandy changes.

"We are going to examine what went wrong, and whether the plans for protecting and strengthening our grid devised post-Sandy have been followed statewide," he added.

Murphy was also the subject of criticism for his he handled the storm, with several North Jersey lawmakers calling on him to declare a state of emergency after the first storm. He eventually declared one in anticipation of the second storm.

• READ MORE: Gov. Murphy Orders Probe Of Power Companies After 2 Nor'easters

Power outages by town

(Homes without power are on the left, total homes serviced by JCP&L on the right.)

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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