Ida Leaves Behind Almost 5 Inches Of Rain, Outages In Long Valley

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Exceeding the expectations of the initial predictions, the remnants of Ida left her wrath on Long Valley, with nearly five inches of rain and flooding in the aftermath.

Some roads were still closed in Long Valley as of 5 p.m. on Thursday, the most updated list on the Washington Township website here.

With downed trees and wires in the area, making some roads impossible to navigate, the Washington Township Schools announced at about 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, the district would remain closed for the day.

The West Morris Regional High School District announced on its website that its entire district was closed on Thursday.

The power outages were the major after-effects of Ida, leaving about 1,824 JCP&L customers in Washington Township without electricity as of Thursday morning, which is close to 26 percent of the township, with restoration times not yet available.

Washington Township had the highest number of outages of any town in Morris County, as a result of Ida.

That number dropped later in the day by about 400, when Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello provided an update, including more precise outage information. At about 5 p.m. on Thursday, approximately 1,300 Washington Township residents still remained without power, according to JCP&L's outage data.

As skies started to clear on Thursday morning, the State of New Jersey, Department of Environmental Protection's Water Monitoring and Standards measured 4.71 inches of rain over 48 hours at 8 a.m., at the South Branch Raritan River, near Long Valley, 4.35 inches within 24 hours. The Musconetcong River location registered slightly higher at 4.78 inches, 4.45 of those within a 24-hour period.

On Thursday morning, the Washington Township Police Department updated its Facebook Page, posting road closures because of downed trees - and in some cases wires - including Fairview Avenue and Black River Road.

Both the police department and Murello, who updated his social media page with flooded areas and road closures or roads reopening first thing in the morning and then throughout the day, suggested drivers be on the lookout for rising waters on East Mill Road between Mountain View and Schooleys Mountain Road and Fairmount Road, on Thursday morning.

Murello thanked the Police Department, Office of Emergency Management and Department of Public Works for their efforts in handling the storm issues.

“They’ve been up all night in that storm and we all need to give them a big thank you for always working to keep us safe,” Murello said.

For updates from the Washington Township Police Department on road closures, outages and other issues, click here.

For Murello’s updates, click here.

For residents or businesses that need to report a power outage or hazardous situations because of this storm, they can contact JCP&L at 1-888-544-4877 (1-888-LIGHTSS) or click here.

For JCP&L's current outage details, click here.

Editor's Note: Story updated at 5:43 p.m. on Sept. 2 with latest information.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.