Thousands without electricity after Isaias blows through Greater Morristown

Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured in this vehicle on Rosemilt Place, according to Morristown police. Tropical Strom Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020.
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The good news: Isaias didn’t hang around long enough for us to learn how to pronounce it.

The bad news: Lots of people in Greater Morristown and across New Jersey may be without electricity for some time.

Tree on house at Doughty and Wetmore, Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes

Gov. Phil Murphy, who declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm on Monday night, tweeted that it could be “a few days” for some residents, as work crews try to restore 1.3 million outages reported statewide.

As of 6:30 pm on Tuesday, the tropical storm had left nearly 700,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers — more than half of JCP&L’s total — without power or light across New Jersey.

Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes

And 133,350 of those customers were in Morris County. That’s more than half of JCP&L’s customers in Morris.

Some 4,425 of them were in Morris Township. Once again, half the customers there.

In Morristown, 3,727 customers–more than one-third of the town’s total–were facing a dark evening.

Spring Brook Road, Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes

In Morris Plains, 1,284 customers were out. That’s half of the utility’s customers in the Borough.

JCP&L’s website could not give any estimated times for restoring power.

Although many trees toppled, police in Morristown and the Township reported no storm-related injuries.

Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes

NJ Transit suspended rail service on several lines, including the Morris and Essex, because of weather-related issues with wires and signals.

Optimum had widespread outages, too.  Our internet service in Morristown has been out for hours.

Our thanks to Eric Hayes, Nicole Ferrara and Tyler Barth for sharing their storm photos.

Hamilton Road, Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes
Tropical Storm Isaias: Downed tree on Rosemilt Place, Morristown, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Nicole Ferrara
Tree blocks Market Street, Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Eric Hayes
Toppled tree in Randolph, Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4, 2020. Photo by Tyler Barth

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5 COMMENTS

  1. If anyone has driven through Washington Headquarters you can see that the residents of Rosemilt Place are completely stranded because the street is blocked by a fallen tree and downed wires. No electricity is only part of the problem. In case of an emergency, there is no way to get down the street. We have not been given any timeline.

  2. I have yet to see 1 JCP&L truck in Morristown either. I think the service for this event has been awful. I live a block off South St and am surrounded by lights yet, on our little strip of a block… Nothing. It’s disheartening to say the least. Somebody better do a root cause analysis on this debacle because they were woefully I’ll prepared.

  3. Well I am in Long Valley and although they cut the leaning in the wires at 4am this morning, I still do not have power. Left for work at about 6 this morning only to have no power in my office. I have not seen 1 jcp&l truck anywhere?

  4. I just went for a walk on Hamilton Road where the tree went down and it is all cleaned up already. Good work. I hope that the residents have their power.

  5. First Energy yet again messes the bed after a major storm. But hey, as long as their “C” level execs get those bonus checks and investors their dividend checks, it’s all good! /s

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