Tens of thousands of residents in New York and New Jersey remained without power on Monday afternoon, as a massive blizzard continued to wreak havoc. The situation was particularly dire in New Jersey, where over 73,000 customers of Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) were without electricity in North and Central Jersey by 2 p.m. This number had been steadily rising throughout the day. The majority of JCP&L outages were concentrated along the Jersey Shore in Monmouth and Ocean counties, with nearly a third of the 15,000 people served in Burlington County also affected. Strong winds and downed trees were the primary causes of these outages, with wind gusts reaching up to 60 mph along the coast, according to the National Weather Service.
In New York, Long Island and the Rockaways were the hardest hit. As of 2 p.m., over 12,000 PSEG Long Island customers were without power due to the heavy wind and snow. However, PSEG had already restored power to more than 15,000 customers since mid-day Sunday. New York City opened several warming centers for residents in the Rockaways who had no electricity, including Far Rockaway High School, Beach Channel High School, and P.S. 43.
In New Jersey, South Jersey was particularly affected, with approximately 58,000 Atlantic City Electric customers experiencing outages by 2 p.m. Governor Mikie Sherrill reported that around 5,000 utility workers were on the ground to respond to outages, with many local companies recruiting workers from out of state to assist. She acknowledged the challenges posed by the heavy, wet snow and winds, which had led to power outages.
Despite the challenges, Sherrill noted the remarkable efforts of utility workers, who had restored power to over 130,000 people by Monday morning. However, many residents were still without power, highlighting the ongoing struggle to restore services.
In New York, Con Edison customers faced outages across the five boroughs and Westchester County, with approximately 3,700 customers without electricity by 2 p.m. Con Ed spokesperson Elisabeth Ferrari attributed the outages to the winds and the mixing of road salt with melting snow. The utility has hired additional workers to maintain electricity during the extreme weather.
Overall, the blizzard has caused significant disruptions, with tens of thousands of residents affected by power outages in both New York and New Jersey. Utility companies are working tirelessly to restore services, but the process is slow, and many residents may need to wait until Tuesday or later for their electricity to be restored.
