Downed Trees Knock Out Power In Toms River, Lakewood, Jackson

TOMS RIVER, NJ — More than 8,300 homes and businesses in northern Ocean County were left without electricity for about two hours on Monday morning after trees came down and brought down power lines, according to Jersey Central Power & Light.

The downed trees and power lines affected homes and businesses in the area of Whitesville Road near Cross Street and Hope Chapel Road, said Clifford Cole, spokesman for JCP&L. Portions of Toms River, Lakewood, Jackson and Manchester in that area all were affected.

Residents said the power outage also affected traffic signals along Route 70 from Route 571 east to New Hampshire Avenue, resulting in traffic tie-ups.

At the peak of the outage, there were more than 2,600 customers in Toms River, and nearly 4,000 Lakewood without power. Jackson had about 1,100 and there were about 740 in Manchester out.

Cole said all but 260 customers had their service restored by 11:15 a.m. "Our crews are working safely to restore all customers as soon as possible," he said.

The company's automated program estimated power would be completely restored by 1 p.m.

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