Maplewood Still Grappling With Power Outages

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — A week after Tropical Storm Isaias downed trees and left 1.3 million state residents without power, new thunderstorms came through on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving more than 6,000 residents of Essex and Union counties without power.

On Thursday morning, PSE&G reported that 737 Maplewood residents were without power, part of the 1,417 residents of Essex County without power. No outages were reported in neighboring South Orange or Millburn/Short Hills Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service issued an alert Thursday morning: "The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for... Hudson County in northeastern New Jersey... Union County in northeastern New Jersey... Southeastern Essex County in northeastern New Jersey... Richmond County in southeastern New York...until 11:15 am."

Storms were also expected to drench the area in late afternoon.

The morning alert mentioned that "Some locations that will experience flooding include... Jersey City, Elizabeth, Bayonne, Plainfield, Linden, Todt Hill, Clark, Union, Tompkinsville, Port Richmond, Westfield, Rahway, Scotch Plains, Cranford and Hillside. Additional rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches are possible in the warned area."

The alert said, "At 9:14 a.m., Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to one inch of rain has already fallen. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly."

The impact could be "Flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other drainage and low lying areas."

Report a power outage directly to PSE&G by calling 1-800-436-PSEG (7734) or by texting “OUT” to 4PSEG (47734). Review storm preparation tips; visit https://nj.pseg.com/safetyandreliability/stormsafety.

Stay away from downed wires

Downed wires should always be considered “live.” Stay at least 30 feet away from downed wires. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything it might be in contact with. If a wire falls on or near your car, stay inside the car, call 911, and do not get out until PSEG de-energizes the line. If you MUST get out of the vehicle because it is on fire, jump as far as possible away from the vehicle, with both feet landing on the ground at the same time, and hop or shuffle away.

Tropical Storm Josephine

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center has been keeping its eye on a tropical depression that may become Tropical Storm Josephine in the next few days. However, it is expected to weaken to a depression days after it hits tropical storm status.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To keep up with breaking news in your town and statewide when it happens, and get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts and daily newsletters.