NEW JERSEY — More than 160,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers remained without electricity Saturday morning after severe thunderstorms swept through the utility’s service area Friday, bringing damaging winds that toppled trees, downed power lines and caused widespread outages.
According to JCP&L, approximately 200,000 customers initially lost power as the storms moved across New Jersey.
In northwestern New Jersey, outages remained widespread Saturday morning, with more than 52,000 customers without power in Morris County, more than 14,000 in Sussex County, more than 9,500 in Hunterdon County and more than 4,500 in Warren County.
The utility said high winds caused extensive damage to trees, electrical equipment and power lines, while also creating hazardous conditions in many communities.
JCP&L urged customers who are still without service to report their outage by texting OUT to 544487, calling 888-544-4877 or submitting a report online through the company’s website. Customers also can sign up for outage alerts by texting REG to 544487.
The company said restoration efforts are being prioritized to ensure public safety and restore power as quickly as possible.
According to JCP&L, crews first address hazards such as downed power lines, fallen trees and blocked roadways before repairing high-voltage transmission lines, restoring service to critical public safety facilities and then repairing outages affecting the largest number of customers before addressing more localized outages.
“We understand that being without power is especially difficult during a holiday weekend, and we sincerely appreciate your patience,” JCP&L said in a statement. “Our crews and support teams will be working around the clock to restore service as safely and quickly as possible.”
The utility said it will continue providing updates as restoration efforts progress. Residents are reminded to stay away from downed power lines and report hazardous conditions immediately.
