Travel bans, dark homes as blizzard buries NJ

❄️ Historic blizzard buries New Jersey with over a foot of snow has fallen statewide

❄️ 125,000 homes and businesses without power

❄️ NJ Transit resumes some service Monday afternoon

With more than a foot of snow dumped on New Jersey, the historic blizzard has left tens of thousands without power and stranded at home.

The top snowfall totals around the state have topped 19 inches so far, with top wind gusts around 50 mph. The overnight coastal flooding was not as bad as expected, cresting only in the minor to moderate category along the Jersey Shore, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

Power outages

Over 118,862 homes and businesses are without power as of 3 p.m. Crews are working but will not be able to go up in bucket trucks in winds over 40 mph.   Utilities urged customers to report power outages and not rely on others to report.

⚡JCP&L — 58,496 (mostly Monmouth & Ocean counties)

⚡Atlantic City — 57,815 (mostly Atlantic & Cape May counties)

⚡PSE&G — 2,551(mostly Burlington & Camden) are without power.

⚡Orange & Rockland — 0

"It may be some time if you have an outage before you will be restored," Board of Public Utilities Director of Reliability Frank Gaffney said during Gov. Mikie Sherrill's briefing on Sunday.

JCP&L spokesman Chris Hoenig said that the utility's crews worked throughout the storm in difficult conditions which have made their work treacherous.  While some customers have received texts and emails with The utility suspended specific restoration estimates on Monday morning as it assigned crews.

"They are actively working on repairs. That restoration time is accurate and based on the work that they are doing. We have a small army of crews that are out there working. We are working to get to every outage as fast as we safely can," Hoenig said.

Hoenig said that the heavy, wet snow was a big factor in causing outages.

"Our hardest hit areas are right along the coast. The areas that saw the strongest wind gusts, the areas that saw the latest change over from the wet, heavy snow to the dry, fluffy snow, are the areas that were hardest hit,' Hoenig said.

A number of public schools are closing for a second day on Tuesday.

ALSO READ: Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow's latest forecast

Traveling in New Jersey on hold for most

NJ Transit's Newark Light Rail and River Line will resume service at 4 p.m. on Monday on a Sunday schedule.  The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will continue service at 6 p.m. on a weekend schedule.

Rail, bus and Access Link will resume service "until conditions allow for safe resumption," according to the agency. Crews are still clearing train station platforms, parking lots and other rail infrastructure.

PATH has suspended service between Newark and Journal Square. SEPTA bus service was being restored on Monday afternoon but regional rail remains suspended.   PATCO is operating on a snow schedule.

Nearly 1,000 arrivals and departures from Newark Liberty International Airport have been canceled for Monday, according to FlightAware.com. Nearly 500 are cancelled already for Tuesday.

Most communities have banned parking on streets to allow for snow removal.

DoorDash has suspended service in New Jersey due to conditions.

ALSO READ: 'Heart attack snow' - doctors warn shoveling could be deadly

📸 How does it look out there?

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom