83,000 Bergen County Residents Still Without Power
Utility companies are working around the clock, but restoration will likely be slow-going, officials say.
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Nearly 157,000 North Jersey residents are still without power due to the unseasonably early nor'easter that blanketed the northeast this weekend, and many are likely to remain in the dark until Thursday, authorities said.
In Bergen County — one of the hardest hit regions, Governor Christie said during a press conference Monday —utility companies are working to restore power to some 83,000 residents.
Public Service Electric and Gas and Rockland Electric reported a 30 percent improvement since Sunday, but despite ongoing efforts, the restoration will take longer than usual, Lt. Dwane Razzetti of the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management said Monday. More manpower is needed to handle individual customers with short circuit issues, officials said.
"This is different from the March storm of last year ... once they get the substations back up, it will be circuits by circuits, prioritizing the nursing homes, fire and police departments and schools," Razzetti said, adding that openings for many Bergen County school districts are still up in the air.
"This is not going to be the sort of thing where everything is turned on at once," he said.
Bergen County municipalities were asked to alert OEM of their preliminary damage assessments, which include estimates for Department of Public Works employees, by Tuesday morning, Razzetti said.
Razzetti and Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, along with staff members, held a conference call Monday from the Bergen County Public Safety Building in Mahwah to share the latest information on the cleanup effort. County officials temporarily moved their offices to Mahwah, Donovan said, adding that One Bergen Plaza in Hackensack and 327 Ridgewood Avenue in Paramus were closed due to the power failure.
Donovan said officials will make a decision late Monday night as to whether the offices will reopen Tuesday, but the election division will remain open regardless — operating on a backup generator — to assist residents in meeting the deadline for vote by mail applications.
Saddle River Park and Van Saun county parks remained closed, including the county zoo at Van Saun in Paramus, which is set to reopen Wednesday, Donovan said. The Ridgewood section of Saddle River Park will remain closed until Friday, and the Glen Rock section will not reopen until next week, she said. Overpeck County Park remained open.
A shelter set up at the FDU Rothman Center in Hackensack will remain open, she said.
Donovan also reiterated an earlier warning issued by PSE&G about trick-or-treating with downed power lines on many neighborhood streets.
"Please, be careful of those trick or treaters," Donovan said. "Downed wires they think are dead may suddenly become alive, so we need to be cautious."
Mike Kupchik
6:12 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
I feel so fortunate having only small branches fall by us, to just give us a few power glitches. I remember how bad it was to lose a fridge and freezer full of food during that brown-out years ago, without worrying about keeping one's house warm in Oct-winter.
Boyd A. Loving
6:56 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
I've observed people walking around the Duck Pond in Ridgewood, using the bike path along the Saddle River, and exiting the Duck Pond in Glen Rock. So, I'm not sure why Kathleen Donovan thinks all of those facilities are closed.
maureen stier
8:38 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
We have been without power since Sat. afternoon-48 hours. The house was down to 50 degrees. It was wonderful to see 3 trucks from Detroit, Michigan on our street at about 6 pm and one hour there was light and heat !! Thank you so much to the kind workers who came all this way from Michigan to help out.
MARIO SICARI
9:32 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
Here is what I will never understand...we spend billions of dollars a year in other parts of the world, Iraq and Afghainistan to name a few...we speak of how if we bring our military back home, un employment will only get worse...REALLY??? well...IRENE caused severe flooding in parts of New Jersey which were un-inhabitable for days... now an unexpected NorEastern drops snow in October and causes major power outages through out the state...why dont we use those wonderful young men and women of our military to improve "OUR" infrastructure??? why dont we use the billions of dollars in resources of destroying nations in building and upgrading "our" own nation???
Ricky
3:13 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Will try to help with the understanding. Decades of over-development is the reason for the severe flooding issues. As for improving our infrastructure like highways, bridges, etc, that certainly is lacking due to funds going elsewhere. But that had nothing to do with this storm, the only way to have avoided these major power outages would have been to previously remove thousands and thousands of trees within 100 feet of any power lines. That wouldn't be good would it? Placing lines underground is cost prohibitive and presents problems of its own.
Jg
10:06 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
Donated our food to the mahwah food pantry before it spoiled!
Dan Johnson
10:11 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
Why in the world would Ridgewood cops being giving out parking tickets to Village residents who had live wires and trees blocking their streets. But they did.
Teaneck_Resident
10:45 pm on Monday, October 31, 2011
i have yet to see on stinking pseg or other utility truck in our area. zip nothing. pseg sucks period, end of story.
THOUNGDUC
12:39 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Mario i totally agree with your blog. We have 192 countries in the world and we give financial aid (Money) to 140 of them, the other 52 we give aid, military aid and military posts. Why are we building Roads, Schools, power plants there and yet we get hit with a storm and can't handle it because we are short of equipment and man power and MONEY. DOESN'T CHARITY BEGIN AT HOME AND our GOVERNMENTS FIDUCIARY TO WE THE TAX PAYERS??? Now we have troops in Africa - what a joke
Ricky
3:27 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
""we get hit with a storm and can't handle it because we are short of equipment and man power"" Here's the thing. It's just not practical to have thousands of extra employees put on the payroll of a utility company or many extra added to a town's DPW workforce who would have little to do all year long or for years at a time just to be used in case of an emergency like this storm. Likewise, purchasing and storing vast amounts of equipment to be used only in an emergency like this plus who would be trained to use them. So they subcontract outside help with other utilities in times like this.
MARIO SICARI
8:33 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Ricky seems to be missing my point, and I disagree with his claim that placing wires underground would present problems of its own.Ironically my cul-de-sac has underground wiring and falling trees which caused power outages did not seem to cause damage in my neighborhood except for cleaning them up...none the less my point is...we spent close to a trillion on two wars, no gain, we spent trillions on bail outs, I see the economy is doing great, when I bring up the fact we should bring our troops home and we have no business meddling in policing foreign lands, many argue there are no jobs and unemployment would sky rocket...these men and women of our military and the money we spend overseas could be put to work at improving our infrastructure and protecting our borders.If you disagree fine, but to argue about over development casues flooding is simply not true, it is due to poor develpoment...In Florida development require man made lakes to surround malls and residential developments, these lakes allow water to flow into when heavy rains fall. Lower Hackensack has been flooding for decades, if they would dredge the Hackensack river, the sewer lines would not back up... why dont they...No money, no man power, but lets spend a trillion dollars in Iraq rather than an infrastructure project in Hackensack, and it wouldnt cost a trillion...that is my point
Ricky
2:52 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
"it is due to poor develpoment." Our situation cannot be compared to another region's way of handling heavy rain, the geography is the difference. Over-development has led to the loss of thousands of acres of ground that used to soak up heavy rains. Now we have thousands of acres that include roof tops, driveways, sidewalks, streets, major roadways, a ton of parking lots, etc in which the water now has to run off into storm sewers which lead to a rapid rise in streams that feed into rivers. As for dredging, that is extremely costly as well and would not be a long term solution. Plus its doubt full that would have prevented all possible flooding during Flyod in 99 or the recent Irene storm....... Yes new homes being built often have wires placed underground but I was referring to making the switch of all present over head wires everywhere into the ground as being cost prohibitive. Still think there are serious safety issues with underground placement.
TSDK
12:41 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Have seen only ONE PSE&G truck near Boulevard in Glen Rock since Saturday. Still without power. Trees still in middle of roads ALL OVER TOWN. RIDICULOUS.
Ricky
3:20 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
It's no fun without power but PSEG is out there. Priority goes to fixing lines that enable the most homes and businesses to get back on line simultaneously. The lowest priority goes to a single home without power in the middle of a neighborhood that still has power.
Harlan Consider
8:53 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The unoffical priority is:
1. Homes of PSE&G employees
2. Homes of relatives/friends of PSE&G employees
3. ... then it's what Ricky says.
THOUNGDUC
12:49 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I am so glad the borough hired a new town administrator TAXI JOE D'A'rco and he worked for kearny in the same position and he says he's doing a great job with this snow problem, theres really no big problems of debri on the roads
B@B
7:50 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
In the "Tree Streets" of Twp. of Washington, power seems to be back on at Beech Street and West, and the east side of Calvin St. east. If you are in the middle, you are still S.O.L. since 1 PM Saturday afternoon. I guess this tells us where we stand.
Balka Kuhn
9:18 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
According to the RIdgewood Patch article from yesterday "Lights out until Wednesday"; "If you are looking for the orange and white trucks, you will not find them in Ridgewood"; "A Reverse 9-1-1" to be sent by the village to citizens Monday, PSE&G is a bit late to the party"; I never got a call. The mayor of Madison, NJ, said on Fox news this morning, that they now are fully powered, it was a matter of a "feeder line" and that trying to find someone to talk to at a utility company or find one on "the scene", is like trying to find "Waldo" and that the companies have to call in out-of-state help, which makes no sense, because there are plenty of workers from one of the other 9 utility companies in other parts of NJ that could come in to aide us and they have fully trained crews to do so; but you cannot use other staff from the other utility companies, what's the deal with that. No communication in the infrastructure of NJ; require these utilities to help each other within the state. Again, our tax dollars at work.
Harlan Consider
9:38 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
As someone who came to the USA from Europe, one of the things that struck me was the ugly overhead utility wires. Now I hear the argument that burying the wires would be costly and hard, but Europe did it. I don't think such a project could be done quickly. It probably would take many years, but please, we really should have a long-term national program whereby utility lines are placed undergound.
Andy Lothian
9:48 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I agree with you Neal 100%. It will take years and will cost money but it has to be done! There have been three major power outages in the village this year and all on all three occasions, power was lost primarily due to fallen trees on power lines. And before some know-all says it, putting power lines underground is not the reason why Europe is in the financial mess that it is in.
B@B
11:04 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Gee, a few trillion dollars squandered in an unnecessary war would have done wonders for domestic infrastructure...
Hank
9:44 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
go to" Orange and Rockland Storm Center" it has map of outages plus est time
Denise
11:21 am on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Ricky-My uncle lives in a 55+ retirement community in Manchester, NJ and they have all the power lines underground, He bought the house a few years ago and surprisingly
didn't break his financial bank.......
Ricky
3:02 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
As mentioned in another reply, many recently built homes and structures have had their wiring placed underground but my original reference was to make the switch of all current consumers in the entire grid to underground wiring (but the cost can be absorbed much easier when in the building stages of a new home or structure).
Joseph M.
12:17 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Or better yet, try living in a condo complex where some of your neighbors have power and others don't. Talk about frustrating!
MARIO SICARI
12:57 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
BTW folks priority is the grid, emergency facilities, businesses and neighborhoods...the problem is the tree limbs still leaning on power lines...work crews from tree services can not and should not attempt removing a tree limb from a power line...they have to make sure the power is disabled before they attempt it...this storm impacted the grid... the safety mechanism is as transformers and power lines disconnect services, the grid shuts down( it is a giant circuit breaker) as the grid gets back on line after repairs are made to sub-station and switching mechanisms the service is gradually restored...at least that was the way it was over 30 years ago...I havent been in the business for over 30 years, but have not seen great changes made to alter this complicated process
Michael Reuveni
7:29 pm on Wednesday, November 2, 2011
If you loo k at the common denomonator for most of the power outages in Paramus it is always the trees. While nobody can predict a freak storm, or a hurricane it is always TOWN TREES falling on the power lines. TREE CITY USA has completely mismanaged town tree prunning in Paramus. The Shade and Tree commissioner should be fired. Town trees are overgrown, and many branches are resting on the power lines. The most minimal wind or storm knocks power out in neighborhood let alone a hurricane. I find it appaling that the town will rush out and fine anyone trimming a town tree, but does such a louzy job in maintaining them. I suggest every town resident join up in a class action law suite to recoupe our mismanaged tax dollars. What else should our town residents endure? for our Mayor to take action. Two episodes of town residents without power for five days in a three month period enough or do we need injury and death like happend in Teaneck to wake up the Mayor and council to our ever growing tree problem. Amazing how the Route 17 buisnesses had power returned by Monday morning while elderly residents and young children frooze in their homes for five plus days. "GREAT JOB TOWN GOVERNMET" I guess the Mayor's house didn't loose power.
Gary Conkling
1:50 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Be prepared. Buy a generator. Learn to take care of yourself. PSE&G is doing a fine job.
Ricky
3:07 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I agree and that's what I've said in the past about another issue, the severe flooding problems. If it's your basement only that floods, declare it off limits to living or storage space. Do not make it a finished basement with any wallboard, rugs, etc, keep a bare concrete floor and foundation surface for the boiler and hot water heater.
Sheila McDermott
9:11 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
An Orange & Rockland employee told me that work had stopped to restore power to some Franklin Lakes residents today because Mahwah's Mayor thinks it's more important to restore power to a Mahwah school. The only way that makes sense is if people are sheltered there and they're using a generator. Does anyone know if that's the case? If not, i'd like an explanation as my elderly mother and brother with special needs both have health problems, and I think it's more important that they be able to return to their home than it is for children to return to school.
James
9:56 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Mahwah Mayor got power restored? WOW! I'm voting for John DaPuzzo for Mayor of Mahwah!
Sheila McDermott
10:00 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2011
To a school...maybe.
Gary Conkling
6:55 am on Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Got my reverse 911 call last night here i Westwood to watch out for downed wires. 2 days after storm. Does anyone know if the Firehouse was used as a shelter?
Rich Seibel
9:07 am on Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Just in case they didn't tell you. Sit down. The Beatles broke up.
THOUNGDUC
12:17 am on Thursday, November 3, 2011
Rich Seibel, as for your educational advice; Sometimes I need what only you can provide your absence!!!
Rich Seibel
6:36 am on Thursday, November 3, 2011
My point was they are a little behind the times