Cold Night: Thousands Still Without Power In Morris, Sussex

NORTH JERSEY, NJ - It was a cold night for many in Morris and Sussex County as thousands remain without power in the wake of the slow-moving winter weather system that plagued the area Sunday through Tuesday. And officials say the lights may not be back on for some until Thursday night.

"Crews continue efforts to restore customers without power after last night's storm. 36,000 customers remain without service, down from 72,600 total customers affected. 8,000 of these outages are new today due to the heavy, wet snow and ice. There is significant tree damage and many road closures, particularly in the Newton and Andover areas, which saw up to 14 inches of snow and, in some places, a quarter inch of ice," JCP&L said in a statement.

According to JCP&L the lionshare of the outages are statewide are centered in Sussex County, with Sparta topping the list with nearly 4,000 without power (see the list of towns below).

ANDOVER BOROUGH 264
ANDOVER TOWNSHIP 2,154
BRANCHVILLE BOROUGH 34
BYRAM TOWNSHIP 134
FRANKFORD TOWNSHIP 443
FRANKLIN BOROUGH 1,254
FREDON TOWNSHIP 1,011
GREEN TOWNSHIP 950
HAMBURG BOROUGH 767
HAMPTON TOWNSHIP 1,186
HARDYSTON TOWNSHIP 1,193
HOPATCONG BOROUGH 33
LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP 458
MONTAGUE TOWNSHIP 1,672
NEWTON TOWN 1,576
OGDENSBURG BOROUGH 986
SANDYSTON TOWNSHIP 1,148
SPARTA TOWNSHIP 3,950
STANHOPE BOROUGH 491
STILLWATER TOWNSHIP 1,989
SUSSEX BOROUGH 78
VERNON TOWNSHIP 517
WALPACK TOWNSHIP 126
WANTAGE TOWNSHIP 892

Service to these areas is expected to be restored by 11:30 p.m. Thursday night officials said.

In Morris, the estimates are lower, with just over 2,000 without power on Tuesday night. Randolph tops the list with over 800 customers without service with Rockaway reporting more than 400 customers in the dark. While the majority of the power is estimated to be restored by late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning there are trouble spots in Chester, Jefferson, Dover, Parsippany, Rockaway, Roxbury, Washington Township, Mt. Olive, Mt. Arlington, Netcong, Harding and Mendham estimated to get switched back on by 6 p.m. Thursday.

"We have hundreds of boots on the ground, including contractors, JCP&L crews from our central service area and FirstEnergy sister utilities, and PSE&G crews. They will be working through the night and 24/7 until all customers are restored," JCP&L said. "We know that it's cold and being without power is incredibly difficult. We truly appreciate your ongoing patience and understanding while our crews work as quickly and safely as possible."

The storm caused many schools, as Patch previously reported, to be cancelled Monday and delayed into Tuesday. The heavy snow and icing conditions caused multiple trees still holding leaves to split and fall under the weight causing road closures and power outages.

The snow totals reported by the National Weather Service Monday night for Sussex County showed over a foot of snow in Highland Lakes and 10 inches in Wantage with 3.5 inches reported in Byram and Newton. In Morris, Green Pond was the high water mark with 10 inches reported while Butler came in at 8.5, Milton at seven inches and Lake Hopatcong at 6.8.

Road conditions during the storm varied throughout the state but officials estimated 275 crashes happened across New Jersey. One crash in Morris County involved a truck that had violated the commercial travel ban and "clobbered" I-287, officials said, causing major delays along the highway.

Gov. Phil Murphy, speaking during a midday press conference Monday, recalled a storm that slammed New Jersey in November 2018 that made him the target of criticism because of his underwhelming response.

"We are committed to not letting that happen again," he said.

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