Full Restoration of Power Could Happen by Midnight Wednesday

A white Halloween is not what many have expected for today. Because of damage to the area, the  instituted an 8pm curfew for all juveniles under age 18. Trick-or-Treating should be limited to daylight hours with adult supervision.

According to an OEM NIXLE alert, there is still moderate storm damage throughout the Borough which includes low hanging wires, tree limbs and snow/ice.

PSE&G spokeswoman Bonnie Sheppard urged “extreme caution” if parents allow their children to trick-or-treat, and she discouraged going out after dark.

The Oradell Police Department will be enforcing the curfew. The use of eggs, paint/paintball, damage to property and any type of projectile is strictly prohibited.

While the majority of schools were open today,  was without power and closed to students. According to the River Edge Office of Emergency Management, the was dismissed early due to power problems. The high school remained in session for a full day, although the first round of the Girls Soccer North 1 Group 2 match between the Lady Hawks and Dumont has been postponed to Tuesday, 2pm.

Students at l, , , ,  and  had full school days as well.

According to its outage map, PSE&G reported between 501 and and 2,000 households in both River Edge and Oradell Monday. In an update by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, that 145,000 customers were without power, with the majority in Bergen County, at 66,000. Full restoration is estimated for midnight Wednesday, Nov. 2.

Governor Chris Christie held a conference call earlier this afternon with Board of Public Utilities President Lee Solomon and executives from Public Service Electric and Gas (PSEG) and Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) to ensure response operations and power restoration efforts were moving forward in a speedy manner to restore power as quickly as possible to New Jersey homes. Of the 750,000 impacted utility customers, over 300,000 have had their power restored already, and 95 percent or more of restorations are expected to be completed within the coming days.

“The damage caused by this storm to utility infrastructure, primarily from downed branches and trees, is worse than that experienced during Hurricane Irene. Even as response efforts have restored power to over 300,000 utility customers, hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans remain without power,” said Governor Christie. “I spoke this morning with executives from PSEG and JCP&L for a personal briefing on the situation and to ensure that efforts to restore power to critical infrastructure and homes in our state are progressing is as timely and responsible a manner as possible. The challenges from this storm are significant, but it is our responsibility to ensure that the basic needs of our citizens are met through adverse weather conditions. As such, I've directed Commissioner Simpson to make Department of Transportation resources available to help the utility companies remove downed trees from county and local roads so we can restore power in every home as quickly as possible.”

PSE&G has 150 crews and 212 tree crews working to restore power to all customers. The company has also brought in 60 crews from other states and 100 contractors to help bring power back.

Residents without power can head to the Rothman Center at Fairleigh Dickenson University, 140 University Drive in Hackensack for the time being. The Rothman Center has been converted into a Bergen County shelter.

NJ Transit's Pascack Valley line is operating, but it could be more crowded since the transportation company is cross-honoring tickets system-wide Monday. NJ Transit buses are subject to detours because of local road conditions.

Residents should report any hazardous conditions in the public right of way or damage to shade trees by calling the at 201-261-8610 or the River Edge DPW at 201-599-6275.

The  will be picking up storm debris this week, but branches must be cut into four-foot pieces and left at the curb. Any trees tangled in wires cannot be removed until PSE&G deactivates the wires. Recycling is suspended this week.