For those of you who don't live in Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon or near the NY border, let me tell you it's a mess up here with the ice and snow.

Early Monday AM JCP&L listed less than 2,000 customers without power. By Monday night it was up to around 15,000. Last night it was over 35,000. This afternoon around 3 PM the count was below twenty, and now at 4 PM it's back up to 23,600. My point is we're not out of the woods by any stretch, and we're expecting 30 mph winds tomorrow without significant melting ahead of time. The trees are still ice bound. JCP&L says the ETR is 11:30 PM tomorrow night. I think that's a crock.

We lost power at 8:48 PM Sunday and got it back at 2:38 AM. Then down again at 1:31 PM Monday and back up at 8:24 PM. Down again at 11:18 PM, and up at 6:14 AM Tuesday. We've been up since then, but 70% of my township is still without power. Get the big picture here, if you haven't seen this before.

I finally got out to Newton today and the roads are a mess. But the number of trees/bushes/vines still hanging on the electric, cable and phone wires was unbelievable! It's incredible that the utilities let all this growth really impede on the wire paths. No, I don't expect them to denude the county of trees, but a lot of what I saw would be prevented by a simple topping or pruning.

Fortunately we have all disaster equipment in place and operating. Regardless, it's a pain in the ass!

/RantOff/

I'd been told before that doing pruning as a preventative measure is paid for by the power companies. If they wait for a storm to knock down the lines, they get federal funding to do it; especially if a State of Emergency was declared.

I've been in your situation before, so I feel your pain. Good Luck.

Wow. I had no idea it was so bad up there. Sending good karma!! I hope they get it all resolved quickly. 

Here's the detail.

Andover Borough		109 of 447 customers without power (24%)
Andover Township		2,068 of 2,486 customers without power (83%)
Branchville Borough		26 of 560 customers without power (5%)
Byram Township		111 of 3,536 customers without power (3%))
Frankford Township		261 of 2,118 customers without power (12%)
Franklin Borough		406 of 2,480 customers without power (16%)
Fredon Township		535 of 1,352 customers without power (40%)
Green Township		845 of 1,459 customers without power (58%)
Hamburg Borough		150 of 2,006 customers without power (7%)
Hampton Township		655 of 2,402 customers without power (27%)
Hardyston Township		821 of 3,782 customers without power (22%)
Hopatcong Borough		387 of 6,676 customers without power (6%)
Lafayette Township		424 of 824 customers without power (51%)
Montague Township		210 of 1,717 customers without power (12%)
Newton Town		861 of 3,849 customers without power (22%)
Ogdensburg Borough		847 of 988 customers without power (86%)
Sandyston Township		876 of 1,156 customers without power (76%)
Sparta Township		4,658 of 8,703 customers without power (54%)
Stanhope Borough		23 of 1,668 customers without power (1%)
Stillwater Township		860 of 2,134 customers without power (40%)
Sussex Borough		26 of 1,253 customers without power (2%)
Vernon Township		509 of 4,429 customers without power (11%)
Walpack Township		121 of 127 customers without power (95%)
Wantage Township		180 of 1,716 customers without power (10%)

Front page of NJ Herald today. 

You can thank Bucktooth. 

My parents live in Hampton and posted about this issue this morning. 

 

Finally got our power back about 4pm.   Almost exactly 48 hours on the Standby Generator.  There are still folks in my town without power.

We had 14 inches of snow on top of about an inch of frozen crud.  This really took a toll on trees.

 

 

At 08:40 PM the customer outage total is at 11,435.

 

The lights at 515 and Canistear on 23 are out. 

Until they return, I suggest anyone avoid 23 southbound in the morning.    Miles of backup heading south this morning.

I left at 5:20am to avoid it.   It will be backed up from 515 into Hamburg before too long.

 

 

 

 

Wow, winter came to the North!  Glad to hear your prior preparations worked out, @45Doll and @Malsua.

Still no power. 

Shit was coming down on Sunday night around here, barely made it home from the airport. Monday looked like armageddon. 

Genset is working great, and the wood stove is burning all winter anyway. I grab gas on my way up rt15 after work, but have enough stored for at least a week.. JUST INCASE.

Just a fact of life living up here..

 

I saw them putting in the new main line pole yesterday for my street, our street actually has buried lines.. so once they get it hooked up, hopefully today, we should have power. 

 

As of this morning, most sideroads are still barely  passable, and your driving under trees still about to come down hanging on power lines.

 

 

I got power back yesterday, but there are still a bunch of folks without it.  

My Generac Standby ran almost exactly 48 hours.   It used about 8 ounces of oil over that period.    I run synthetic and I haven't done an oil change on it for at least 3 years.    The recommended interval is 200 hours, but even with the exercises and now this outage, it is not near 200 hours.

I ordered a tune up kit and will do that whenever it arrives.

I posted a quick video of my trip down Canistear on Tuesday morning.   It looks like February.  Stupid clock is off by an hour.   The effective speed is 210mph

 

I guess this will be my last word on the topic (I hope!). Power's been stable and the outage count is below 500 statewide.

One interesting observation. When I went by the JCP&L headquarters in Newton yesterday there was a state trooper in a patrol car at each driveway mouth. Perhaps some customers without power were getting (or threatening to get) a little too testy.

10 minutes ago, 45Doll said:

I guess this will be my last word on the topic (I hope!). Power's been stable and the outage count is below 500 statewide.

One interesting observation. When I went by the JCP&L headquarters in Newton yesterday there was a state trooper in a patrol car at each driveway mouth. Perhaps some customers without power were getting (or threatening to get) a little too testy.

Well, JCP&L is a pathetic provider that does zero maintenance, so there is that.   Whenever we have an outage in my area, Sussex Rural gets us back pretty quick, JCP&L customers have to wait until Essex or other towns are restored before they bother with the plebes in Sussex.   I'm glad I'm not on them.   Bunch of pathetic assholes who don't trim trees or do basic maintenance on infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

On 12/6/2019 at 7:48 PM, Malsua said:

Well, JCP&L is a pathetic provider that does zero maintenance, so there is that.   Whenever we have an outage in my area, Sussex Rural gets us back pretty quick, JCP&L customers have to wait until Essex or other towns are restored before they bother with the plebes in Sussex.   I'm glad I'm not on them.   Bunch of pathetic assholes who don't trim trees or do basic maintenance on infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

Around here they do line maintenance once a year around the main lines. 

They trim back trees, in fact they completely topped some large trees on a line that cuts through the woods next to my house. They seem to contract companies year round. I see them surveying at least twice a year in spring and summer. 

My power lines are buried from the main. I feel bad for the saps who are on side streets that barely get looked at.

But we live in the woods, technically.. so I dont expect much from them.