Residents found light literally at the end of the proverbial long tunnel after power was restored Monday, almost one week after Tropical Storm Isaias wreaked havoc on the area on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The good news came in a muted way, with Roxbury and Mount Arlington not showing on Jersey Central Power & Light’s outage report website page.
Despite the restoration, however, frustrations mounted at what was perceived to be a too-slow pace, prompting Roxbury Mayor Robert DeFillippo to issue a statement on Saturday night.
“JCP&L told us today that it continues to restore electric service throughout town. However, according to their latest report, 1,227 Roxbury residents remain without power four days after the storm,” he said.
“That is far too many people who have been without power for far too long. Repeated requests to JCP&L for more crews to be sent to Roxbury have gone unanswered.
“Communities continue to be left without any reliable information from the power company on when everyone they can expect to have their power restored. By any measure, JCP&L’s response failed Roxbury and residents are understandably frustrated.”
He said that, “In a meeting JCP&L held with mayors today (Saturday), the power company executives told us that of the 202,100 Morris County customers without power after the storm, 31,000 remain without power. Nearly every mayor who spoke told the power company executives their response was too slow, inadequate, and unacceptable. They also criticized JCP&L for the poor condition of its infrastructure,” the mayor writes.
“Township officials have been in continuous contact with JCP&L, making sure they are aware of the many people in Roxbury who are suffering through another day and night without electricity. Township staff even flagged down utility trucks today to try band direct them to specific areas of town and determine restoration times.”
Throughout the course of the past several years, in the wake of big storms, JCP&L has been widely criticized for the inordinate amount of time it takes to restore power throughout the county. During Hurricane Sandy, for example, some Roxbury residences were without power for two weeks or more.
“6,251 Roxbury residents are still without power at 7:26 pm. on Wednesday,” DeFillippo said Wednesday evening. “A recent announcement from JCP&L stated that some residents may not get power back before Aug. 11. This is completely unacceptable. Township Manager John Shepherd and I have been working with residents and JCP&L throughout the day,” he said.
DeFillippo said that in a meeting with area mayors Wednesday, many of the mayors expressed frustration that JCP&L was not better prepared. JCP&L said they were working around the clock,” he said.
In Mount Arlington, meanwhile, Mayor Michael Stanzilis on Thursday said while several trees fell and there was minor damage, “we are truly blessed that nothing major happened and no one was injured.”
Stanzilis praised the borough’s Department of Public Works employees and police, who did “outstanding job keeping the residents of Mount Arlington safe. They’ve cleared lots of roads that were blocked by trees and responded to numerous wires down.
“I’ve also witnessed the kindness and generosity of our residents helping each other and looking out for one another,” the mayor said.
Stanzilis said that he, the borough administrator and police chief were on the phone with JCP&L, the Morris County Office of Emergency Management and the state several times a day and into the evening.
‘Fed Up’
Local frustration was shared on the county and even state level.
On Saturday, Morris County Freeholder Tayfun Selen of Chatham Township issued a statement in which he told constituents that he was “as fed up with JCP&L as you are.”
“On Tuesday, a tropical storm impacted 150,000 Morris County customers. Five days later, there are still 31,000 customers in Morris County without power.
“Yes, it was a bad storm. But this is unacceptable and people must be held accountable.” he said, going so far as to demand the resignation of JCP&L CEO Charles Jones.
Even Gov. Phil Murphy took a pot shot at the utility during his Friday, Aug. 7 COVID-19/Tropical Storm Isaias briefing.
“Come on, folks, we’ve got to get the people’s power back on,” he said.
He acknowledged that Isaias was “a razor-sharp” storm that left 1.4 million people in the state in the dark, “It’s frustrating for folks and I don’t blame them.”
He added “I can’t explain why” JCP&L still had to restore 200,000 customers.
JCP&L reported that there was great damage to the transmission lines, the lines moving power to the substations, due to falling trees during the storm. Fixing those lines was the focus during the first 24 hours of recovery, with much of the work being done by helicopter.
The utility then focused on attending to the substations that feed several towns. While that was happening, JCP&L had been summoning power restoration crews from other parts of the country to help with the outage. On Saturday, crews from as far away as West Virginia and southern Georgia were at work throughout the area.
However, JCP&L also reported that COVID-19 has also slowed repairs down. It limits the number of people in trucks and large groups working together.
‘Hardest Hit’
In a statement issued on behalf of the freeholders on Thursday, Aug. 6, Freeholder Deborah Smith of Denville said that, according to the utility, the county was the third “hardest hit county in the state.”
She said the utility explained during a morning teleconference with officials that “the key to restoring power and clearing roads is the ongoing repair work JCP&L is conducting at multiple substations that were knocked out by Isaias.”
In the meantime, the county’s Office of Emergency Management was providing municipalities with generators to keep major facilities open, coordinating the clean up effort and having the Morris County Sheriff’s Office provide help towns asking for support in both equipment and manpower, she said.
‘Constant Contact’
Interestingly, the views of officials were not shared by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, who through spokesman Peter Peretzman on Friday defended the utility as doing the best it could under challenging circumstances.
According to Peretzman, the board was in “constant contact” with utilities to ensure they are working to restore power as efficiently and effectively as they are able.
JCP&L outages, he said, “are down 70 percent from their peak” and the utility “expects that most customers will be restored by end of day today, the rest by next Tuesday (Aug. 11).”
Peretzman said Isaias’ damage was “particularly severe with damage both to transmission systems as well as poles and wires. It will take some time due to the severity of the damage with many downed trees which impact the most isolated outages.”
According to Peretzman, many outages in JCP&L areas, “are extremely difficult to address given the location of these customers. Much of JCP&L’s territory is heavily wooded and in rural areas.
“In particular many downed trees falling on power lines and knocking down poles presents a significant obstacle to restoring power.”
Peretzman said the board “is always working to ensure the utilities adhere to all post-Sandy protocols as well as those the Board put in place” following the 2018 Nor’easters.
“For example, JCP&L was required to improve its damage assessment post-storm, the efficiency of its storm management, vegetation management and customer service and communication, among other recommendations.”
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