Lots of people have gotten their power restored, but two readers, one in Glen Ridge, the other in Montclair, are still powerless (and feel that way, too!). As of this afternoon, PSE&G says they are looking to have everything back by tomorrow.
It seems the north side of Wildwood is always the first to go out and the last back on (about 18 months ago they replaced a transformer down on the old RR tracks . . . see how well that's worked out.) Right now all the north side of Wildwood is out and it extends down Ridgewood to the intersection at Bay Ave. Food in my fridge?! Ha! I've decamped down to south Jersey with my in-laws (a trade-off in and of itself rest assured) so I'm not looking fwd to the puddles of melted ice cream that await me at home. As for PSE&G . . . again, I call them at least every 4 hours throughout the day . . . mostly I get an automated response saying the power will be back on by Fri at 6PM (three days after it went out Tues at 9) but I was also told yesterday PM that there was no issue . . . I drove all the way home to find I still had no power (the money I've spent on gas this week . . . ) Like I said, in marked contrast to how LIPA handled things on LI . . . this is ConEd all over again . . . And I can't help but keep thinking . . . if my power's out for 3 days after a 30 minute storm (a rough one true,) what's going to happen when a hurricane eventually hits? We'll be out for months.
UPDATE: Still no power, but this just in from the Borough of Glen Ridge. The library will extend its hours til 8 til night, and the Glen Ridge Train Station will be open as long as necessary. (Rec officials will supervise until 10 pm, police after that.) Anyone needing overnight accommodations should call police dispatch 973.748.5400.
Now to a reader from Walnut Street in Montclair, who's so mad, he just might move...
Relatively new to Montclair—and at the rate things are going, probably won’t be staying here too much longer—and enjoy reading your site.I live near the corner of Pine and Walnut and my street was particularly hard hit by the storm. I barely made it home from the gym Tuesday night as just about every approach to my house was blocked by downed trees and power lines. So when I read on your site that power wouldn’t be restored to everyone until Friday, I assumed my neighborhood would be one of the last to have the lights turned on again. With this in mind, I went out in the city last night after work rather than go home to an apartment that was sure to still be in the dark. As it turned out, I fell asleep on the train and missed my stop, getting off at Upper Montclair instead and walking home. Hey, it happens. So on my lovely late-night stroll from Bellevue to Grove to Oxford to Walnut Crescent to Walnut, I’m pretty sure the power was on everywhere. Aside from a few tree branches scattered here and there, you’d never have known how violent the storm was the night before and how devastated the area had seemed.
That is, until I got to my block, which remained in the dark. The massive tree branch blocking Pine Street just below Walnut was still there and remained there this morning. Utility poles were still teetering, wires still sagging. Some progress had been made in clearing the tree branches from the road but clearly little if any work had been done on the damaged utility poles and wires. There are still some wires on the sidewalk and streets this morning, not live I hope. And far from PSE&G crews working “round the clock” to fix the problem, there was no crew in site. I hadn’t seen a single PSE&G crew in action anywhere along my walk home. They’ve done little or no work on the damaged utility poles and wires on my street to this point and still were not present there at 8 this morning either. Yet the power seems to be on almost everywhere else in Montclair, including right up the street at Kaveny Field (for midnight softball I presume?)
I have to say I really don’t understand what’s going on. Given the scale of the devastation on our street, I was a little surprised that crews weren’t out immediately Tuesday night attempting to repair a very dangerous situation. The only people working were the cops blocking off the street and yelling at people to get back in their houses. I’ve seen power lines and utility poles get knocked down before in other places I’ve lived in and the typical response is to get a crew to the scene immediately to make the necessary repairs and restore power to the neighborhood, working into the night if necessary. But given that this was going on everywhere, I assumed PSE&G had their hands full and would eventually get to us. But last night, things had clearly stabilized in Montclair and virtually every neighborhood I walked through had power restored. So why were there no crews working on our block? We have been visited by the tree removal folks who were still at it this morning, although again I really don’t understand why Pine Street is still blocked two days after the storm hit. How hard can it be to clear that branch from the street? Clearly, there appears to be no sense of urgency on the part of PSE&G or the township.
I realize we got hit pretty hard, probably worse than most in the area, but I cannot for the life of me believe that the people on Bellevue Avenue or anywhere else in Upper Montclair would have to wait this long for their downed utility poles and wires to be repaired and power to be restored. Now that train whistles have been banned from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., another ridiculous move by the township, do they assume that we would rather have peace and quiet in our dark, hot houses than have noisy crews working through the night to restore electricity in the area? I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that one.
In any case, my lease is up at the end of July and I’m pretty sure I’m not renewing, nor do I plan to remain in Montclair.
Dear reader, I live near Bellevue in Upper Montclair and had no power for something like 4-5 days during microburst 2006. I feel your pain.
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Comments (52)
still no power on grove street.
Funny I have not seen a PSEG truck in my travels around town.
Add northern grove street to "first and last" to lose and restore power.
Upper Montclair had outages too, as did Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Orange. The town also does not control PSE&G and the train quiet zone has nothing to do with anything. It's understandably frustrating to have no power, but to suggest certain neighborhoods are more important to PSE&G, or the town police and clean up crews, is a bit specious.
Still out on Christopher between Walnut and Chestnut. This will be the 3rd full refrigerator loss we have had compliments of Mother Nature and PSE&G in the last 2 years.
During Microburst 2006 we were out for over 4 days, had power come back, cleaned up, went to ShopRite to restock and had the power go back out that night for another 24+ hours.
That which does not kill you makes you stronger.
PSE&G is too busy writing glorious press releases then dealing with the issue . . .
Why not start snapping pics of PSE&G trucks and upload them to the fliker site . . . there won't be many I bet . . .
Stay at a hotel until the power comes back on and send the bill to PSE&G. I know a co-worker who is doing this down in South Orange. It's worth a try.
Jim - Good luck with that. This is weather related, and PSE&G will accept absolutely no responsibility. We attempted to get some compensation for all of our losses in 2006 and were told that they bore no responsibility because it was an act of god.
Not to defend them but yesterday and today I've seen PSE&G trucks everywhere, along with some other trucks with names and logos I did not recognize, all working on lines. I travel through Bloomfield, GR, MTC and Verona, and MTC and GR are by far the hardest hit.
Get some candles, people.
Not to defend them but yesterday and today I've seen PSE&G trucks everywhere, along with some other trucks with names and logos I did not recognize, all working on lines. I travel through Bloomfield, GR, MTC and Verona, and MTC and GR are by far the hardest hit.
Travel the same roads and haven't seen jack . . . upload the picks . . .
Don't assume they're any nicer to or quicker to serve the Upper Montclair folks. Two years ago, during the previous microburst, Cooper Ave. and Summit Ave. were out of power for four full days -- Tuesday through Saturday. I know, because I was one of them. Every day we would call, and were told the power would be back on within 12 hours ... then we'd call 12 hours later, and were told the power would be back on within 12 hours ... then we called 12 hours later ...........
Power back on Christopher between Walnut and Chestnut. Woo hoo!
The power outage is definitely PSE&G's fault. Anyone who knows anything about the power biz knows they have scrimped with 3 of employees, have not built enough back-up generators or power facilities, have postponed or just ignored building power facilities to accomodate expanding populations and changing energy use patterns-who has 1 tv? who has 1 phone? Unless there is a bomb or major earthquake or MAJOR tornado, there is no reason for people in our area to be without power. I don't even bother calling because one never gets a valid response. And what about updating the website with reports throughout the day? Is that too much to ask? Every person without power should be compensated by the # of hrs. they are without the power. We should not have to pay for something we don't get. It's bad enough for people who don't depend on electricity for life support or medical conditions, but what about those who do? It's criminal. If PSE&G hired more energy developers/engineering experts, and invested their $ in infrastructure, we would not be in this position.
Dear reader, to think this problem is Montclair-centric would be incorrect. Instead of moving, may I recommend heading over to Egan's (sounds like you're in the general area); they've got power AND cold beer.
yeah rchanin, I'll be sure to post them because I always snap photos of PSE&G trucks everywhere I go.
Typo in my previous comment, I meant to write: They have scrimped with their employees, Not the #3) or they have not been hiring the # of employees they need over the past decade
NICE post leinad!
Just spoke to Mike Rohal at the GR Municipal Bldg . . . he's been in contact with PSE&G not only about the current problem but has also asked for a 3 yr reliability study to assess where PSE&G needs to beef up their capabilities in town. Well done Mike!
Apparently, Mountainside Hosp also went down again today . . . If PSE&G can't guarentee power to a hospital, what hope do the rest of us have?
(I just had a PSE&G truck ask me where "Upper" Montclair was. He couldn't find it on a map....)
But really. It is there fault. It was in the PSE&G Annual Report, "... seed clouds, cause storm, do not restore power to various sections of Baristaville as they will still be able to post from their iphones..."
I never suggested PSE&G should accept responsibility for acts of God. However, at what point do you separate acts of God from being accountable as a provider of public service utilities? What is a reasonable length of time to perform repairs for mission critical utilities such as electricity and water (6 hrs? 6 days? 6 weeks?)? And how is that performance benchmark being monitored and enforced? If there is indeed a shortage of workers, then that is certainly a management deficiency of PSE&G and not God.
I do believe the proper staffing numbers for PSE&G were one of the 11-15 commandments.
If I remember correctly, he dropped that tablet, thus giving us the 10 commandments we follow today.
We were out for 16 hours in Bloomfield, starting @ 8PM Tuesday Night. Good grief it was hot! Tossed and turned all night.
We were just about to start to toss our frozen food when the power came back on in a nick of time. Probably saved us about 50-100$.
A friend of ours in GR still doesn't have any power and is being told that Saturday is best case scenario. They live right on Montclair border.
I called PSE&G early on Wednesday and they were in defense mode right off the bat, giving me the speach about the 100K people with no power, etc., etc., I had a very simple question: "Do you have any idea when the power will come back on in Bloomfield?". They responded "No idea what-so-ever."
You have a point, Jim, but no one makes them accountable. After we lost about $500 worth of groceries in our 2 losses after the microburst, the helpful customer service agent told us that "if you live in an area prone to power outages", you should try to get dry ice to protect your food as soon as you lose power.
Your friend can send them the hotel bill, but I'd be willing to wager that they will refuse to pay it or provide any compensation.
Typical Montclair resident musing:
Living in my mansion up on No. Mountain, sipping wine and eating Chinese delivery from T.J. Ma (SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW!), I can identify with what those poor folks down in New Orleans went through. And to make matters worse I need to go to the club tomorrow to shower. Simply an outrage I dare say!
There were a bunch of folks buying dry ice at Applegate Farms yesterday. They kid selling the ice had these big fuzzy mittens on - I guess to be able to handle the ice safely.
I suppose if this 'power outage' thing were a semi-regular occurance, it would be a good idea to go purchase a couple of large coolers to save food from spoiling/thawing. In the 17 years we've been in our home we haven't lost power for more than 4 hours until this past event. If it happens again within the next year or so, I'll probably go get a big cooler and present myself @ Applegate's for my dry ice..
TS Ma sucks! I'll never use them again, ever! They're expensive and their food is mediocre.
This is just an opionion folks, not a fact.
Agree re TS Ma BTW . . . they don't suck nearly as much as PSE&G though! =)
Mets2008- I find your post ammusing but -please- only the poor wanabe mansions are on N Mountain. I think using Upper Mountain or above or S Mountain where the real mansions are would be much more effective.
tounge in cheek
UPDATE: Still no power, but this just in from the Borough of Glen Ridge. The library will extend its hours til 8 til night, and the Glen Ridge Train Station will be open as long as necessary. (Rec officials will supervise until 10 pm, police after that.) Anyone needing overnight accommodations should call police dispatch 973.748.5400.
My friends from Fitz 1928 should wheel over a few kegs!!! Well done GR!!!
Girl,
Don't forget Highland Ave. There are some scary, rich homes up there. It, Upper, North and South Mountain are on my 'fantasy' bike route.
Great bike streets, BTW. Just make sure you're heading North if you're on Upper Mountain. That's the wide side of the street.
Someone posted about: "Every person without power should be compensated by the # of hrs. they are without the power. "
Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are charged for the power you are using by Kwhour. If there's no power, you're not using any.
You have a some choices.
1. write your state rep and organize to regulate the power industry so the public is protected.
2. Scale down. If you have a small fridge you will not loose much. If you have a hand crank radio you'll stay informed. If you have a solar charger for your mobile phone you'll stay connected.
3. Scale up. Buy a back up generator that runs a gasoline, diesel, or natural gas and wire it to systems you want to keep running, fridges, AC/heat, a TV, communications system like your fios, etc.
Someone posted about: "Every person without power should be compensated by the # of hrs. they are without the power. "
Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are charged for the power you are using by Kwhour. If there's no power, you're not using any.
True . . . but I think what they're referring to is more along the lines of liquidated damages. You promised me X, you didn't provide, herego, you owe me $Y. LD's are written in to any contract I've ever written . . . but try doing that with a monopoly like PSE&G . . .
Somehow a vision of lasermike sitting in the dark and cranking up his radio had me in giggles.
Those hand crank radio/flashlight doo-hickies will come in pretty handy for Y3K!
Scaling up sounds pretty good to me. Now all I have to do is find a place to bury that 10,000 gallon fuel tank....
You promised me X, you didn't provide, herego, you owe me $Y
Such is the entitlement mentality of contemporary American society.
Roll,
It's even worse, more like:
"I was led to believe that I would get X. I can't remember how this perception actually came to pass, but I have embraced it as truth. I haven't received X and demand satisfaction!"
Entitlement??? That's just plain 'ol contract law . . .
Wouldn't the world be an infinitely better place if people didn't makes promises that they couldn't (or had no intention of) meeting? Sheesh, then we wouldn't have to deal with this social security nonsense . . .
Hmm, I like TS Ma, much better than the typical storefront Chinese joints.
.. but if you read the disclaimers that are in very small print, you can see that no promises are actually being made..
I don't think any utility company in it's right mind has 'promised' to deliver anything.
i live a couple houses down from the Horse on Union St. and we havent had power until 10 minutes ago it just went on!
WHen i was walking home from the store i saw a PSEG truck on my block.
YAY we got power! Lets hope the food isnt spoiled from 3 days without power
I don't think any utility company in it's right mind has 'promised' to deliver anything.
And therein lies the problem . . . =)
baristagirl123,
If the food was frozen and has been thawed then you should not re-freeze it. Cook it or discard it.
With the other foodstuffs, let your nose be your guide!
Remarkably, none of our food was spoiled enough to throw out, with the exception of some ice cream that got a little crystally.
Turns out that our next door neighbor is a retired PSE&G guy! If it makes you feel any better, he was without power like everyone else.
Mikey, you are continually urging others to live as miserably and as meanly as you do. Sit down and scale down!
I'm trying, however, to ever picture you scaling "up." Increasing your carbon pawprint (in bunny slippers!) via a gas generator won't quite do it, you know. Oh laserboy, you really are a riot. A lonely riot, I'm sure.
Just got a call from my parents in Nutley - their power is back on. Hopefully the rest will follow shortly!
" You promised me X, you didn't provide, herego, you owe me $Y. "
But with PSEG you pay only for what you use. Use little, pay little. Use a lot, pay a lot. There's no credit to offer if you're not using anything.
Mellonbush,
I totally agree, Highland and Prospect also. My daughter is in love with that large "castle" like house on Highland. Definately a fantasy route. I love driving down those streets.
Still no power here in South Glen Ridge. My home borders on a small park and all the wires run along that park -- with overhanging trees. Altho SPE&G often trim the trees, there are still tall branches and dead limbs that fall. Like the branch that is now straddling the wires. But further up the street, a branch has taken down a line and that may be our problem. PSE&G came by a couple of hours ago just to check on it (after two calls to them and a call by the police who also reported it)
But we do have a generator that we run for a couple of hours in the evening. When the power finally comes back on, I will assess the refrigeration damage. We have lived here 45 years and I can't remember such a long black out.
But no major complaints. We didn't lose home or lives as in some parts of the country. Reading by kerosene lamplight is fine and I get my internet fix the short time the generator is on, so I am happy.
"...And what about updating the website with reports throughout the day? Is that too much to ask?"
Couldn't. No power.
We're still without power on my street between bloomfield ave and belleville ave. the problem is PSEG--there are only a handful of houses without power over here, because a tree that PSEG is supposed to maintain (in that no-man's land between the back yards) fell, ripping the service away from my (and 6 neighbor's) houses. funny thing, the house that the tree hit has power. Anyways, it would seem to me that if PSEG is remiss at maintaining their tree, then they should be responsible for the food damage and the cost of re-attaching the electric service to the house. i'm not holding my breath though. Also funny that we've had 4-5 teams of "assessors" over the past three days. No workers, though.
Oh man. I'm sorry I missed this article until now.
This reader is going to MOVE from Montclair because there was a huge storm and their power was out for 2 days.
And then they had the time to write a six paragraph missive about it.
Too funny.
I was lucky enough to have power for most of the time since the storm (I was out for about 18 hours just after, and for a few hours today), but I did go for 6 days without power in a 5th-floor apartment in NYC some years ago.
In both cases, my thought was this: We certainly take for granted the conveniences we have each day, and something like this is good for reminding us what we've got.
I travel as much as I can. In many parts of the world, people still live completely without electricity and running water. In many other parts of the world, the availability of electricity is a minute-to-minute situation. You may have it one afternoon and not another. When I was in Roatan, Honduras this spring we found that the juice went out for at least several unscheduled hours each day, and that is a regular occurrence.
How lucky are we? We've got clean, safe running water. We've got regular access to electricity, natural gas, and (still) relatively cheap gasoline.
People may have experienced some inconvenience these last several days. I know it can be particularly difficult for the elderly or disabled. But I really hope that the experience helps people realize just how rich and pampered our regular day-to-day lives are.
We shouldn't take this for granted. It may not always be this way.