The 'vast majority' of the 40K JCP&L without power will have it restored by Thursday night Watch video
The "vast majority" of the nearly 40,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers in northwestern New Jersey still without power following Tuesday's fierce storms should have their power back on by late Thursday, a company official said Wednesday afternoon.
About 1,400 workers are on the job Wednesday afternoon in Morris, Sussex, Warren and Passaic counties, spokesman Ron Morano said. JCP&L has moved crews from Central Jersey, which wasn't hit as hard, into those counties and has brought in additional help from Ohio Edison, an affiliated power company.
Keep track of power outages, from the major utility companies as they happen across the state using the N.J. Outage Tracker below.
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"There was a great deal of damage," Morano said. "We have a lot of trees and wires down and a lot of poles damaged."
Morano noted that JCP&L's first goal is to restore power to police and fire stations, as well as hospitals, ambulance companies and schools. They have also prioritized getting roads cleared so they can re-opened.
More rain, T-storms in forecast the rest of the week
Most of the outages are in Sussex County (17,000+) and Morris County (14,000+) as of 1 p.m. Wednesday. In Sussex, more than half of the homes and businesses in Sparta, Fredon, and Frankford are without power. Nearly everyone in Andover Township is in the dark.
JCP&L says it's restored 65,000 homes and businesses since the peak of the storm Tuesday night.
"We're working as quickly and safely as we can," Morano said.
PSE&G and Orange & Rockland are still working to restore service to several thousand customers.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.