Storm Hits Maplewood: Roads Closed, Traffic Lights Knocked Out

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Maplewood was among several Essex County towns hit hard by Wednesday’s storm and its heavy, wet snow, which left roads treacherous and knocked out traffic lights on Springfield Avenue, officials said.

Maplewood police reported on Thursday morning:

“Numerous road closures on Valley St, Ridgewood Rd, Wyoming Ave, Prospect St, Jefferson Ave, Maplewood Ave, countless interior streets.”

Multiple traffic lights were knocked out during the storm, Maplewood police added.

“Springfield Avenue has multiple traffic lights that are not functioning,” Maplewood police advised at 6 a.m. “All turns may not be possible at all intersection. It is advised that you avoid Springfield Avenue.”

Maplewood township jitney service was canceled for Thursday morning, and the district’s public schools were closed Thursday.

A warming shelter was available at DeHart Park for those in need, Maplewood officials said Thursday.

Maplewood wasn’t the only Essex County town hit hard by the storm. Flights were canceled in Newark, roads became impassable in Verona and Cedar Grove, car crashes were reported in Millburn, downed power lines were seen in Livingston and trees were down in Montclair. Check out the below article for more examples of storm damage and issues in Essex County.

• See related article: Essex County Sees Crashes, Outages, Bad Roads

PSE&G: 80,000 LOSE POWER

If you lost power during the storm, you weren’t the only one. PSE&G said that about 80,000 of its 2.2 million customers were without power as a result of yesterday’s storm.

According to PSE&G:

Working overnight and this morning, the utility has restored about 190,000 customers since the storm began.

• Heavy, wet snow brought down large trees, branches and wires across PSE&G’s service territory. Electric service crews worked through the night and will continue to work in difficult conditions to restore outages as safely and as quickly as possible.
• The restoration process will likely take several days given the damage from falling trees that will need to be cleared. The utility is mobilizing additional employees to help with damage assessment so that it can better determine restoration times. We ask our customers to be patient as we deal with these difficult conditions and work to safely restore power.
• PSE&G’s 16 walk-in customer service centers are expected to open at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
• Downed wires should always be considered “live.” Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything that it might be in contact with.
• To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, do not run any gasoline powered engine, including generators and snow blowers, in a garage or any other enclosed space. Clear snow from dryer and hot water heater vents.
• PSE&G encourages customers to report downed wires and power outages by logging in to My Account on www.pseg.com, texting the word “OUT” to 4PSEG, or calling PSE&G’s Customer Service line at 1-800-436-PSEG.
• The utility offers customers a number of ways to stay in touch and informed before, during and after a storm. These tools can be found at PSE&G’s mobile-friendly website www.pseg.com in the “Storm Center.” Updated every 15 minutes, PSE&G’s mobile-friendly “Outage Map” displays the location and status of power outages.

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File Photo: Eric Kiefer