No Restoration Times For 45K Without Power In Morris County

MORRIS, NJ — There are still no timelines for when power might be restored across northern New Jersey, JCP&L president Jim Fakult said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.

Fakult said crews were still working to assess the damage left by a second nor’easter in one week, and that an estimate should be available by later Thursday afternoon. Customers who have been without power since last Friday’s storm, about 17,000 homes, will be the company’s priority.

UPDATE, 6:50 A.M. FRIDAY: Restoration times have been announced. Read more here.

4,500 workers, including 2,000 from out of state, are working 16 hour shifts to address the outages. Part of what’s slowing down restoration efforts is the need to clean up roads before power line work can begin, Fakult said.

He also defended JCP&L’s handling of the first storm, saying that the snow was heavier and wetter than expected and residents were warned of potential outages. He noted that over 2.2 million customers were affected in the northeast, which made it harder to call in outside help to address New Jersey’s outages.

JCP&L began restoration efforts last Friday and attempted to work through Wednesday’s storm, but was forced to pause when winds became too high and roads were impassible. Efforts resumed at 6 a.m. Thursday. Nearly 45,000 residents are currently without power in Morris County (see a town-by-town breakdown below). Some towns were hit harder than others, with the Mendhams never regaining power from the last storm. Others saw only a scattering of outages during both storms. (See storm impacts by town below.)

Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered a state review of how utility companies handled the outages.

"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," Murphy said. (Read more about the review here.)

Power outages by town

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

• Read More: This Is How Much Snow Morris County Got

Town-by-town updates (we’ll be adding any new updates as they come out, so keep checking back)

Madison

We are aware of numerous outages. If your power goes out please email the following: electricutility@rosenet.org. The borough electric department is diligently working to restore power to the affected areas. If your power goes out please email the following with your address, name and contact information. Thank you.

Rescheduled recycling pickup is Saturday. Yard waste pickup will start Mon. March 12th. Refer to rosenet and the Borough Facebook for info

Morris Township

Warming and charging centers are open for township residents without power. Mt. Kemble firehouse, 1 Spring Brook Road, Fairchild firehouse 2 Burnham Road, and the Municipal Building, 50 Woodland Avenue.

Morris Plains

The Morris Plains Community Center, 51 Jim Fear Drive, is currently OPEN as a WARMING CENTER AND CHARGING CENTER. The Community Center will be open today from 11:30 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. tonight. If you are without power, please take advantage of this opportunity to get warm and charge your devices. Also if you have elderly neighbors that don't follow us on Facebook, please take a minute to let them know! Thanks!

Montville

Please avoid travel. We continue to have approx. 70 roadway issues that have not been resolved. Travel is very dangerous with down power lines and trees. Many roadways have not been able to begin snow removal due to debris. Our advice is stay home. Many areas and businesses are without power and unable to open.
Route 287 North is closed from Montville to Riverdale.

Florham Park

Snow/Ice covered roads are still dangerous. Tree limbs and wires down in several locations. Please limit travel. The Municipal Court will be open at 7am as a warming/charging station. Blankets and water will be available. The Florham Park Memorial First Aid Squad building located at 60 Felch Rd. is now available and open as a warming center and charging station. Borough Hall Warming Station will close at 5PM. First Aid Squad warming Station will close at 9PM.

Roads and travel remain dangerous. Some roads remain blocked by downed trees and power lines. Please do not travel to allow road and power crews to work safely. Assume any down lines are energized and remain clear.

Hanover

The Department of Public Works is doing their best to clear the roadways of snow; however, their efforts have been made more difficult with all the trees, wires and debris that are down throughout the Township. Please be patient as they work to clear the trees, and as JCP&L works to clear the wires before the snow can be safely cleared. Thank you.

Morristown (Find more information here)

UPDATED-Mayor's Parking Notice to Morristown ResidentsVehicle Removal Time Updates◦HQ's PLAZA GARAGE: 8am on Thursday. (no change)◦DALTON GARAGE at Cattano Avenue: 2pm on Thursday◦DEHART STREET GARAGE: 2pm on Thursday◦ANN/BANK PARKING GARAGE: 2pm on Thursday**********************************************************************Please show driver's license as proof of Morristown Residency upon exiting and your parking fee will be waived.**Parking Fees may be issued if: Vehicles are moved after the vehicle removal date and time and If owner is a Non-Resident of MorristownNOTE: Date and Time of Vehicle Removal are subject to change.Please check www.townofmorristown.org, for updates.

Multiple streets are impassable at this time due to trees and power lines being down. Travel will be difficulty as clean up continues. Heavy traffic and delays should be expected throughout town during the morning hours. It is strongly suggested downtown be avoided to facilitate clean up operations. Below is a list of street closures as of 7:00 am. Streets Closed are:

Southbound lanes of Speedwell Ave near the lake

• Abbett Ave
• Valley View
• Early St between Mill St - Colonial Kenmuir
• Colonial near Washington St
• Colles
• Lincoln St
• Walker between Ralph - Lake Rd
• Cobb
• Lake Rd
• Olyphant Dr
• Franklin St near Madison Ave
• Rosemilt at end
• Oak Ln
• Garden St
• George
• Cottage

Kinnelon

As per the Butler Power Company, the JCP&L transmission lines that feed the Butler Power substation are down. At this time there is no ETA when power will return.

Riverdale

Storm Update: There are approx. 1500 residents with out power. We Do Not have an ETA on the power company response. Roadways are very bad. Route 23 Is shut down in Pequannock. Route 287 South is not moving. Trees are down through out the borough. The DPW was out all night. They will return shortly and begin the clean up. Please do not call our dispatch and ask when the power will return. We do not know. Do not call and ask about the roads. They are very bad. Do not drive. We will pass on updates as we get them.

Latest Storm Update: As of 11:15 the DPW is out and clearing streets. Power to the traffic light by Home Depot is out. Traffic can NOT cross the highway. The traffic lights on Hamburg Tpke by Route 287 are both out. Use Caution. We still have not received an update on power. Expect days not hours for outage. We are aware of lines down and have made notification. To everyone calling and asking about road closures or directions. Please go to a local news station or get a traffic app. You are tying up emergency lines with your questions. If you do not know how to navigate around the area, then do not go out. Use common sense.

Denville

Morris Ave is closed to all through traffic at Memorial Court due to downed wires and trees. Traffic cannot travel between Diamond Spring Rd and the Morris Ave, Savage Rd intersection.We are aware of many other closed secondary roads due to wires down. Many of those wires are still live and have not been de-energized by JCP&L. DO NOT go near any wires on the ground. If you are without power, JCP&L urges you to make your own phone call to them so that they are aware of each specific outage. You may contact JCP&L at 1-888-LIGHTSS (1888-544-4877) or via the web at www.firstenergycorp.com. The Denville Township DPW continues to work since yesterday morning on snow removal and removal of downed trees that are safe to cut. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we triage our most dangerous, life-threatening incidents.

Parsippany (Find more information here)

The plows are still clearing township roadways. If your street has not been plowed please do not attempt to drive down it. The snow is deep and we are getting calls for vehicles becoming disabled in the middle of the road. If your road is cleared, it does not mean the rest of your route will be. Please check traffic conditions and refrain from driving if possible. Multiple trees and wires have come down and blocked numerous roadways. We have towed over 20 vehicles that were either parked on the public roadway or become disabled due to the storm. If you find that your vehicle is not where you left it please call 973-263-4300. We usually have approximately 100 calls for service in a 24 hour period. However, in the last 24 hours we have responded to 257 calls for service. We have an additional 74 awaiting dispatch. Most of which involve downed wires or trees. All calls will be answered in priority order.Currently there are 12,725 JCP&L customers without out power. They are working diligently to get your power back online. If you have not done so already please report your outage to them directly. DO NOT TOUCH ANY FALLEN UTILITY LINES!!

Washington Township (Find more information here)
As you head out today, please remember to remove all snow from your vehicles.

The following roads are closed:

• East Mill (near 10 for lines down)
• Zellers Road near #11-17 (lines down)
• Fawn Ridge at #32 (for low wires)
• Coleman Rd (for lines down)
• Laketown by N Four Bridges (for low wires)
• Fairview at #28 (for trees and wires) remains closed
• Kings Highway (for broken/leaning pole).
• For reports of additional downed lines please call 908-876-3232 x 0.

Chatham (Find more information here)

Please continue to stay off the roads. There are several trees and wires across major roadways making travel extremely hazardous. Please stay away from all downed wires. If you should see a downed wire please assume that they are live and stay clear of them. Report any unmarked downed wire to the Chatham Township Police.

Mendhams, Chesters (Find more information here)

The following roads are closed due to downed trees:

• Mt. Pleasant
• Mountainside
• Hilltop Circle
• Jane Terrace
• Old Orchard Road is closed due to downed trees with live wires.

Please be cautious of stranded vehicles located on Cold Hill near Briarwood and on Ironia Road in the S curve. Don't get out of your vehicle and try to remove wires.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates on your town.

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