Officials Critical Of Atlantic City Electric Tornado Response

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ — State and county officials have been critical of Atlantic City Electric as power outages continue two days after a tornado hit Gloucester County Wednesday night.

“Even after catastrophic storms like the one we saw this week, residents should be provided a reasonable timeline for when their power will be restored,” State Senate President Steve Sweeney said Friday afternoon. “Yesterday, Atlantic City Electric promised all service would be restored by the end of the day. Now they are saying it will not be until midnight tonight. Currently, nearly 1,200 of its customers in Gloucester County are still without power, and the overwhelming majority of the outages have nothing to do with safety concerns. Atlantic City Electric needs to keep its promises. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know when power will actually be restored because Atlantic City Electric clearly cannot meet its own goals. That is unacceptable.”

“Atlantic City Electric’s response to the power outages across Gloucester County is deplorable," Gloucester County Commissioner Director Robert M. Damminger said. "People have lost their homes and suffered an immense amount of damage from the tornado we experienced on September 1. The estimated times given to residents is unacceptable. They continue to make promises to individuals who need definite answers to when power will be restored. They need to take action- not make promises.”

As of midnight Friday, there were 982 Atlantic City Electric customers in Gloucester County without power. At the same time, there were 21 PSE&G customers in Gloucester County who were still without power.

Late Friday afternoon, Atlantic City Electric officials estimated service would be restored to a number of customers by midnight Friday, with service restored to a substantial number of customers by 11 p.m. Saturday, although that may change based on what crews said in the field.

They called the destruction brought on by the storm, "some of the most devastating we’ve seen in our service area."

They said that while they set an "aggressive goal to restore customers immediately after the tornado and corresponding storm event passed," their crews encountered even more extensive damage in the form of downed trees and broken poles.

"Because of this, we adjusted our estimated times of restoration for customers and are actively communicating these changes to them as they occur," the electric company said in a prepared statement. "It is our goal to provide our customers with the most accurate information possible when their power goes out, so they can make informed decisions regarding alternate living arrangements if necessary."

They said they understood the criticism and thanked residents for their patience.

"Our crews, along with crews from our sister companies Pepco and Delmarva Power, area contractors and other support resources from as far as Ohio, are working around the clock to restore power to our customers that experienced the devastating impacts of the EF3 tornado, with estimated winds of 150 mph," Atlantic City Electric officials said. "We remain focused on restoring service for every customer safely and as quickly as possible, and we will continue our work until all customers have their service restored."

The tornado that impacted Gloucester County has been classified as an EF-3 tornado that had peak winds of about 150 mph, according to a preliminary report released by the National Weather Service. Read more here: Tornado That Hit Gloucester County Packed 150 MPH Winds

The cleanup was also impacting travel for South Jersey residents hoping to hit the shore this Labor Day weekend. Read more here: Tornado Cleanup Slowing Shore Traffic In South Jersey