Proceed with caution. Power is out right now along Bloomfield Avenue and no one (at 3 p.m.) had yet arrived to direct traffic. From Lackawanna Plaza up to North Mountain Ave., Pompton Ave., traffic lights are out.
PSE&G tells us they have reports of widespread outages in Montclair, Irvington, East Orange and West Orange. They haven't pinpointed the cause yet, and can't give an estimate yet of when power will be restored. We're hearing specifically that downtown Montclair and the South End have power out.
A tipster gives this explanation...
There was a fire at some sort of power plant on the corner of Northfield Avenue and Prospect, I was driving and saw the fire, a couple of small explosions in the distance. Traffic lights are out in West Orange, Bloomfield Ave, Montclair, Claremont, and Walnut, lights still on at Chestnut.
Reports are coming in that parts of Clifton and Glen Ridge may be affected. We'll keep you posted.
UPDATE: Some 30,000 75,000 homes are affected in the following neighborhoods: West Orange, South Orange, East Orange, Orange, Irvington, Caldwell, Verona and Montclair. A fire at a switching station in West Orange is the cause.
UPDATE 6:11 PM: We hear unconfirmed reports from people who have called PSE&G that the utility is conducting a rolling blackout, and that areas that have power now may lose power later. However, NJ.com reports that most power in Essex County should be restored by early evening.
Power should be restored by 7:30 p.m. to most of the 75,000 customers hit by an outage in Essex County this afternoon, according to a spokeswoman for Public Service Electric & Gas Co.A failed breaker caused a fire at a switching station in West Orange today, forcing PSE&G to shut power to thousands during the season's first extended heat wave.
"To preserve the integrity of the other equipment, we had to reduce demand on the station by shutting it down," spokeswoman Bonnie Sheppard said in an e-mail. "This action affected other area stations."
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Comments (28)
Kids just called from home. Power is out south of Watchung ave in Montclair.
Called the PSE&G hotline...."Please call back...due to high volume of calls"
No ETA from Township manager either. I called and they are out of power as well.
my power is out on S. Park near the Siena
No power on Midland at James Street in Montclair, either.
Ok , just called the hotline again
800-436-7734
There is an automated message that states that power will be back by 7 PM.
Anyone know how long food will stay ok in the fridge? if the kids don't open it all day long?
thx.
The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
How long does a marsupial keep cool in a sheltered, partially-underground crawl space? Wouldn't want the little critter to have to take a day off from work tomorrow... :)
I'm touched that you are concerned, Conan, but unfortunately there's no taking tomorrow off from work, short of a catastrophe. But one can only hope.
Was just at the Starbucks in Glen Ridge and the power is on.
Also on at Gates and Bloomfield avenue. Weird.
Just checked in with the boss, and the Oakview section of Bloomfield still has power. I just purchased a generator yesterday for this very reason, and was worried I'd need to give my wife a quick telephone tutorial on how to start it up.
I was at Whole Foods on Bloomfield Ave, when there was a flickering of the lights. You should have heard the whoops from the workers! It was only a flicker, tho. And then a couple of minutes later all power went out and there were smiles all around on those workers!! Shortened day???
Maybe it was last call?
i am happy to note that i received timely notification of the problem from the town notification system on both my cell phone and via email.
i am happy to note that i received timely notification of the problem from the town notification system on both my cell phone and via email.
Power is out in Upper Montclair Center, and police are directing traffic at intersections of Valley with Bellevue and Lorraine. Shops are closed.
This one has been deemed worthy of mention on the Star-Ledger site. I guess with 75,000 customers lacking power, it's a bit hard to ignore.
My wife was also in the Whole Foods in Montclair when the power went out.
She said she was the 2nd person in line and she had to leave without her food.
I wouldn't want to be in there after a few hours of the refrigerator cases being down in this weather... eewwww...
Those "raw foods" folks must be feeling pretty full of themselves right about now.
After the weather, this was the top story on CBS-TV at 5 pm.
whats happening w/power in glen ridge north of bloomfield ave? anyone?
Update on NJ.com - Per PSE&G power to be back for most by by 7:30pm.
I'm in Glen Ridge near Mountainside. We had power all day, though I got a flat and when I tried to change the tire, the jack melted into the street and got jammed! I had to call Roach's to jack up the car again. He couldn't charge my card because power was out there. What a mess. But I'm glad my house wasn't washed away in a flood.
I've got power and never lost it (Bloomfield and Grove).
Hawthorne & Gates - Haven't lost power yet (thankfully)
I posted this comment in response to one of the other power outage stories but it may be more appropriate here...
Do people in this area not realize that when a traffic light is out you are supposed to treat it as a 4 way stop? I saw lines of cars coming down the hill on Claremont and blowing right through the intersection at Valley. This was a few minutes after power went out and there were no cops directing traffic yet. I walked down Claremont and saw the same thing at the intersections of Midland and Park. I guess these drivers assumed the cars on the cross were going to stop for them? I suppose this is why NJ drivers ranked 48th in the GMAC driving test.
Well, I got to see citizens at their best--a little after 3, right after the power went out, I was stopped at N. Fullerton and Claremont having the same experience as the above poster (and telling my son that this was the meaning of anarchy). I headed toward Bloomfield Avenue, wondering how we were going to get across. When I got there, there were two guys--clearly civilians, one in a business suit and the other in a T shirt and shorts--coordinating with each other to direct traffic at that crazy intersection. They seemed to be doing a really good job. What good guys to take it into their hands before the cops could arrive--and in 100 degree heat (I felt especially bad for the wool-suited one). Our power (south end of Montclair) was out from 3 until around 7:30--and Mr. Dino's was PACKED at dinner time!
I thought Baristaville was Montclair, Glen Ridge & Bloomfield?
On Saturday when much of north Bloomfield experienced a power outage for the better part of 12 hours you had no coverage & we were left with the same silly message at PSE&G, 'please hold due to heavy call volume'. No $hit!!! Yesterday's Montclair outage brought us mega coverage from you guys.
Ok, enough with the inequity in coverage.
Traffic lights, or lack thereof during these outages really does bring out the idiot in people. I was behind someone at the intersection of Broad/Broad/West Passaic on Saturday (right in front of Aki) and he/she drove right through the light, as if it were GREEN and thankfully the teenager who was driving in the other direction and had the right of way (in the 4-way stop method) was paying attention & slammed on his breaks and swerved off the road to avoid. Thankfully, too,that no one was walking on the sidewalk. People are really such dummies.
Lastly on the topic, WTF??? Why can't PSE&G get through any heatwave without major outages in Baristaville? Our electric bills are going to be sky high because it took the a/c kicking at 67 for 12 hours straight to cool the house down to a comfortable level. Cha-ching!
hiding -- it's not geography. The key is to have your blackout on a weekday.
LOL, Liz!
I'll try to schedule that with PSE&G next time ;-)