Thousands still without power in North Jersey

Jersey Central Power & Light expects to restore power by Friday night to thousands in North Jersey who spent Thanksgiving in the dark.

A fallen utility pole in North Jersey (JCP&L)

The utility, which reported around 48,000 customers without power following heavy, wet snow Wednesday, was down to just over 3,000 customers in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties early Friday morning according to its outage map.

Warren County residents can expect to be restored by Friday at 12 noon and Morris County by 4 p.m, according to a Tweet from the utility. Sussex County, which JCP&L says had the most snowfall and damage, will get power back by midnight.

“We’ve been working day and night since the storm came through,” JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano told NJ.com. He said 10 of 18 utility poles had been downed as as the result of accidents Wednesday.

Customers of the Sussex Rural Electric Co-operative fared better with only a handful of customers still in the dark Friday morning according to its outage map.

Hopatcong mayor Sylvia Petillo compared the number of wires and trees down to the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. "We had a very difficult situation with this storm,” Petillo told the New Jersey Herald. “It was a very heavy snow. We had power lines down, we had poles down, and we had transformers blow. And we had trees down all over.”

JCP&L has made water and ice available at the Shop Rite supermarkets on Route 46 in Rockaway and Route 15 in Wharton along with Walmart on Hampton House Road in Newton.