Power Outages From Storm Affect 5,000 In Howell: JCP&L

HOWELL, NJ — JCP&L reported at about 9 p.m. Saturday that most traffic lights on Route 9 south of West Farms Road are out due to very high winds from "a possible tornado" and as many as 5,000 are out of power in the township.

The utility's spokesman Chris Hoenig said he saw transformers "smashed" on Route 9.

"There was extensive tree, wire and pole damage," he told Patch. He also said marble-sized hail fell for a period during the storm.

He said some of the worst Route 9 damage was near New Friendship Road and Route 9, in the area of the Southard Firehouse and the Town Hall.

He said the entire state had about 20,000 customers out of power because of the storm but it was concentrated in the Howell, Jackson and Plumsted areas.

He said about 10,000 people were out in Jackson, 5,000 in Howell.

He said extra staff was called up to deal with the outages, and the company is working on a workflow plan to restore power.

He advises residents without power to go to the JCP&L website and report an outage if they have one.

While he could not confirm if a tornado touched down in the Howell area, he said there is "extensive" tree and pole damage. Hoenig, who lives in Howell, said he did not see home damage, as far as he could tell.