Lawmakers Want Murphy To Declare Emergency After Nor'easter

MORRIS, NJ — As 62,687 homes still await power restoration after Friday's intense nor'easter, lawmakers from northern New Jersey are calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency.

At the power outages peak, over 100,000 homes across the state were without power. As of Monday afternoon, those outages were concentrated mostly in northern New Jersey, with Warren, Sussex, Morris and Hunterndon still seeing tens of thousands of homes each in the dark. Outages could last through Wednesday night, but a predicted snow storm this week could prolong outages, or cause new ones.

UPDATE, 1:55 p.m. Tuesday: Gov. Murphy has declared a state of emergency for Tuesday night's storm and promised to reevaluate their previous storm response. Read more about it here.

Assembly members Kevin J. Rooney, Parker Space, Anthony M. Bucco, BettyLou DeCroce and Christopher DePhillips, who represent counties in the northern section of the state, want Murphy to declare a state of emergency to address these ongoing outages.

• Read More: Power Restored For 30K, 21K Still Dark In Morris County On Monday

“The Governor continues to monitor the damage and outages caused by the nor’easter. Every relevant state agency is working with the utilities to assess all options for restoring power as quickly as possible to all that remain impacted by the storm," an aide to Murphy told Patch.

Virginia and Maryland enacted states of emergency on Friday, while New York enacted one in four affected counties. Pennsylvania activated the national guard.

"Declaring a state of emergency opens up sources of funding. This can significantly impact municipal budgets which are due to come out in the next two to four weeks," Kevin J. Rooney (R-Bergen) said. “As a former mayor I know how much they need help and they need it now. The governor needs to be reactive. We need strong leadership in times of crisis.”

“Like most of my neighbors, the lights in my business remain off and my wife said she’s sitting in a dark, cold office,” said Parker Space (R-Sussex, Warren, Morris), who has been responding to calls as a volunteer firefighter. “We have been in contact with the governor and his office. At least three governors have declared states of emergencies. Northwest New Jersey needs the same response.”

Monday morning, Murphy tweeted that JCP&L's response time was "unacceptable." The power company has released the following timeline for power restoration:

• Hunterdon County - Tuesday, March 6, 11:30 p.m.
• Southern Morris County - Tuesday, March 6, 11:30 p.m.
• Somerset County - Tuesday, March 6, 11:30 p.m.
• Union County - Tuesday, March 6, 11:30 p.m.
• Warren County - Tuesday, March 6, 11:30 p.m.
• Northern Morris County - Wednesday, March 7, 11:30 p.m.
• Sussex County - Wednesday, March 7, 11:30 p.m.

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