Outages Enter Fifth Day As Impatience Grows

MORRISTOWN, NJ—After Jersey Central Power & Light missed its goal of 85 percent restoration by today, frustration is mounting with customers and officials at the slow progress.

Four days after Tropical Storm Isaias rocked New Jersey, thousands of homes and businesses in Morristown and Morris Township are still without power, angering customers and officials.

"We share your frustration over what seems to be an inordinate delay in reopening our roads and restoring power to many neighborhoods," said Freeholder Director Deborah Smith, speaking on behalf of the entire Freeholder board.

The company made some progress in Morristown, trimming outages from 1,109 to 984. But Morris Township reported 2,039 on Saturday—nearly one quarter of the municipality's customers—an increase from yesterday's 2,014.

"More than 8,000 utility personnel...continue working around the clock to restore power," said a statement by Cliff Cole, JCP&L spokesman. The company has said power will be back on to nearly all customers by 11 p.m. Tuesday.