1.6K Without Power In Morris County Following Severe Storms

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — More than 1,000 customers remain without electrical service Tuesday morning following powerful thunderstorms that pushed through Morris County on Monday.

Jersey Central Power & Light showed more than 1,600 homes and businesses across Morris County were still without power as of 11:30 a.m.

Utility spokesman Chris Hoenig said that the outages are all due to the storms yesterday. In various parts of the county, there is extensive tree damage as well as flooding that has affected the power lines.

In total, nearly 50,000 customers were affected by the storms, Hoenig said.

To combat the increased need, Jersey Central Power & Light has extended crew shifts, brought in additional crew members, had contractors on-site assisting, and moved crews from central New Jersey to northern New Jersey to help.

Some outages are expected to last into tomorrow due to the extensive damage and the nature of the outages - a large number of which impact single, individual customers.

According to Hoeing, the utility company prioritizes restoration by outage size, beginning with the largest outages.

"We expect to restore power to the majority of affected customers by today at 11:30 p.m.," Hoenig said.

More severe weather and heavy rain are expected in the Morris County region on Tuesday, as forecasters have extended the hazardous weather outlook and flood watch.

According to the National Weather Service, Tuesday is expected to bring one to three inches of rain to the region, with showers and thunderstorms developing in the afternoon and evening.