Day 4: No Power For Thousands In Hopatcong, Sparta After Storm

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ - There are plenty of signs of normalcy as roads are opening, flood waters are receding and destroyed trees are being rendered kindling. But the darkened homes and the hum of portable generators still remain as more than 5,000 remain powerless Friday in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias.

The storm Tuesday brought strong winds and heavy rains buffeting the area that closed roads, felled trees, flooded roads and robbed over 150,000 homes of power in Morris County.

According to JCP&L's number of outages by town as of 10 a.m. Friday, Hopatcong has 4,542 still without service while Sparta shows 1,051 without power.

Global Restoration Time

On Wednesday night Jersey Central Power & Light, which provides electricity to most of central and northern New Jersey, established a Global Estimated Time of Restoration of 11:30 p.m., Tuesday. And it was not met with applause.

Immediately, frustrated residents took to their social media, began emailing Patch reporters and private messaging their personal situations and why the outage estimation time was an insult.
"There are no wires down or poles down in the neighborhood where I live and there are no wires or poles down on the main street that runs through the town ...so why is the power still off?" one reader from Mendham Borough wrote to Patch, echoing the sentiments of many. "They should have learned from previous storms to position their people and equipment in place, prior to storm arrival. What are the mayors and OEM people for the individual towns and counties doing to rapidly rectify this crisis?"

Having lived through three days without air conditioning, a medical necessity for some, and no power to run essential equipment, the concern of nearly a week of this has many concerned.
But there is a reason the global time is just an estimate. According to officials, it is used as a worst-case scenario to help people plan, but it isn't going to be accurate for everyone.

The Global Restoration time means that 95 percent of the customers currently out of power will have their power restored by that time. Between now, and then, homes and businesses will come online as power is restored.

When line crews are assigned to specific outage orders a unique User Estimated Time of Restoration will be assigned to that order. As additional utility resources are brought in, the ETRs could be adjusted.

JCP&L officials noted that crews are continuing to work around the clock to safely restore customers affected by Tropical Storm Isaias. When line crews are assigned each outage order, the restoration time will be updated to reflect when repairs at that location will be completed, they said.

"We currently expect that this will be a multi-day restoration effort," said Cliff Cole, a Jersey Central Power & Light spokesman.

The Board of Public Utilities took to social media to express concern, but shared little else in terms of updates.

“We know how frustrating it is to be without power,” the organization tweeted. “We are in constant communication with the utilities, and they are working around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. We will keep you updated as new information becomes available.”

Restoration Priority

JCP&L officials said that there is a procedure in place for power restoration efforts:

• Isolate and make safe
• Repair high voltage lines and restore essential functions
• Restore hospitals and other critical medical facilities, police, fire departments and 911 facilities
• Repair main feeder, distribution lines
• Restore the areas with the largest number of customers
• Restore individual homes

Coronavirus Concerns

Line crews are out restoring power but that does not mean the global COVID-19 pandemic has taken a backseat to the work efforts.
"Our crews are working hard to get all customers back up and running. All of our emergency response personnel are adhering to CDC guidelines during the coronavirus health emergency," officials said. "For your safety and theirs, please practice social distancing and steer clear of work zones."

Map Issues

Many Garden State residents desperate for updates are struggling with the JCP&L outage map. Officials noted that the triangles indicate damage locations, not individual homes.
"Think of the icon as representing the center of the outage, it may cover several miles. You may need to zoom out a bit to see the outage affecting you," they said.
Also, those wanting an update can text STAT to 544487 for an update for your specific residence.

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