Utilities: Likely to be Sunday Before Power Restores

Three days after the storm that PSE&G is reporting the worst in it's history, many Union County residents are still without power. 

As of Wednesday morning, the utility reported 42,289 were still in the dark across the state. In Union County, more than 10,000 people were still experiencing outages as a result of Irene. PSE&G reports that many of these residents may not see lights turn back on until Sunday due to severe flooding in the area. More than 5,000 Jersey Central Power and Light customers are also without power.

PSE&G has about 6,000 employees supporting the restoration effort, including crews from Wisconsin, West Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The crews are working around the clock, according to a news release issued today.

As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, here is a list of the maximum number of customers experiencing outages per town in Union County:

• Cranford: 5,000 customers
• Westfield: 2,000 customers
• Scotch Plains: 1,500 customers
• Union: 2,000 customers
• Berkeley Heights: 500 customers
• Mountainside: 500 customers
• Fanwood: 300 customers
• Clark: 500 customers
• Plainfield: 500 customers
• Rahway: 500 customers
• Kenilworth: 500 customers

Jersey Central Powr & Light also reports about 5,000 outages across Union County. Here is its list of affected customers as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday:

• Berkeley Heights: 980
• Chatham: 3
• Mountainside: 51
• Murray Hill: 458
• New Providence: 59
• Short Hills: 1
• Springfield: 1883
• Summit: 1521
• Watchung: 57

JCP&L expects the majority of power outages will be restored by the weekend with full restoration by early next week, according to an alert on its website. The company reminds residents to treat all downed wires and damaged electrical equipment as live and dangerous. If you have not already reported your electric service as being out, please call 1-888-544-4877.

Editor's Note: This story has been amended to reflect following clarification made Wednesday, Aug. 31, at 3:07 p.m.:

A previous version of this story stated that, as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, a maximum of 2,000 Scotch Plains homes and 500 Fanwood homes were experiencing power outages. In interviews Tuesday afternoon, Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr and Scotch Plains Township Manager Christopher Marion that a PSE&G representative had informed them that fewer than 300 Fanwood residences and about 1,500 Scotch Plains residences were experiencing outages.