Hundreds of trees were uprooted, lying across major roadways. More than a thousand spans of wires were destroyed, along with electrical equipment. And nearly a quarter of a million were left without power. Watch video
Pat Stegeland of Mendham Township has been out of power since Friday. Her generator ran out of gas on Sunday.
She's been throwing out food from her fridge and charging her phone in the car.
"It's an inconvenience," said Stegeland, a grandmother with a recent hip replacement. "But Mother Nature makes you humble."
Hundreds of trees were uprooted, lying across major roadways. More than a thousand spans of wires were destroyed, along with electrical equipment. And nearly a quarter of a million were left without power.
The powerful nor'easter that hit last week apparently caught everyone by surprise.
"When you have more than a foot of snow in some areas, flooding in most and add to that the wind - it's just the perfect storm," JCP&L spokesman Chris Eck said Monday morning.
Northern New Jersey was hit hard by Thursday's nor'easter, which brought 16 inches of snow to portions of Sussex County, winds of 70 mph or greater in South Jersey and tropical-force winds across the state.
"It would be difficult to design a storm that could do more damage to our infrastructure," Eck said, comparing the recovery efforts to Hurricane Sandy.
By Monday, more than 850 trees and utility poles had been cleared from roadways, along with power lines and other debris, Eck said.
JCP&L reported about 77,000 customers were without power Monday morning - mostly in Morris and Sussex counties. The number was down from 221,000 when the storm first hit.
In Delaware Township on Monday, Laurel Hartman said her neighbors continued to recover.
"My neighbor's house has been hit by three trees, two of which are still on the roof," Hartman said.
On Monday, power lines were under downed trees, cable lines were damaged and roar of generators filled the air.
"Everything works using the generator, it's just at low power," Hartman said. "So the lights flicker and you can't have too many things on at once. But we're managing as best we can."
Schools were closed in many communities, some at the urging of county emergency management officials. Other schools left without power were forced to move students to schools where the electric was working.
In Harding Township, schools were open but no bus service was provided due to road conditions.
JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano estimated the majority of those still without power on Monday would be back online by midnight Tuesday.
Others in rural areas of Northern New Jersey might not be restored until Wednesday night, he said.
Some customers who experience restored power might lose it again for a little while as the work continues, Morano said.
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The recovery efforts were going strong Monday as another storm -- one expected to up to a foot snow -- raced toward New Jersey.
In Hunterdon County, where more than 16,000 remained without power on Monday, nurses were on standby as a community center served as a public shelter. The libraries were serving as warming and charging stations and residents were told they could shower at the YMCA.
Hunterdon Freeholder Matt Holt was critical of how long it was taking to restore power, saying projections of Tuesday or Wednesday are "totally unacceptable."
"It is not like we haven't been through this before," Holt said in a statement. "I suspect there will be a post mortem on these events, where the company can explain how the resiliency we have heard so much about wasn't there."
utility workers in Chester are working to restore power to the area as some residents are still without power #noreaster2018 pic.twitter.com/bOXmsWYMwE
-- Sophie Nieto Munoz (@snietomunoz) March 5, 2018
PSE&G on Monday dispatched 190 electrical line and support personnel to Sussex County, where they expected to work in JCP&L's territory for several days.
"JCP&L requested assistance in their restoration efforts," said John Latka, PSE&G senior vice president of electric and gas operations.
Latka said an estimated 576 PSE&G customers without power were expected to be restored on Monday.
The PSE&G employees are expected to work 16-hour days to repair damaged electric lines and safely restore power to thousands of customers still in the dark, Latka said.
(Sophie Nieto-Munoz and Alexis Johnson contributed to this post)
Tree down in Mountain Lakes,Morris County. Crushing a garage destroying two cars. No hurt thankfully! #StormWatch #NJToday #NJwx #noreaster @News12NJ pic.twitter.com/XzZbiZ55z3
-- Dave Curren (@DaveCurren) March 2, 2018
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
