Atlantic County storm damage

Its a dark Independence Day for thousands of Atlantic City Electric customers four days after powerful thunderstorms brought down trees and power lines throughout the area.

Atlantic County is offering free ice, water to residents affected by the power outages stemming from the past weekend's storms and more than 2,000 remain in the dark this morning as repair crews work to restore outages.

Tens of thousands of customers remain without power in South Jersey today - following a series of violent thunderstorms that rolled across the region at the end of last week causing widespread damage and outages.

Atlantic County residents are warned to be wary of price gouging, or high markups on necessary items following the severe storms. Price gouging during a state of emergency is illegal in NJ.

Utility crews will be back out today restoring power to South Jersey a day after violent thunderstorms rolled through the air on Saturday morning bringing down utility wires and more trees than Hurricane Irene.

New Jersey merchants were warned today that price gouging is prohibited during the states of emergency that have been declared in a handful of counties, and any others that may be declared.

Utility crews will be back out today restoring power to South Jersey a day after violent thunderstorms rolled through the air on Saturday morning bringing down utility wires and more trees than Hurricane Irene.

Governor Christie has called on the New Jersey National Guard to bring in generators and cautions some people may not get their power back until the end of the week following a meeting with Atlantic County government officials.