UPDATE: JCP&L Customers in Basking Ridge, Warren Hardest Hit

About 8,000 Jersey Central Power and Light customers in Somerset County remain without power Sunday afternoon.

Warren had 2,369 outages, while Basking Ridge had 2,000 outages as of 2 p.m., according to JCP&L. Somerville had 1,120, while Neshanic Station had 840.

Hillsborough and Bridgewater were less affected, with 323 and 93, respectively.

More than 273,000 PSE&G customers in New Jersey are without power and restoration could take up to a week, a spokeswoman for the company said Sunday morning.

Irene, which was downgraded Sunday morning to a tropical storm, has resulted in widespread outages throughout the state, according to Deann Muzikar, a spokeswoman for PSE&G.

It could take five to seven days for power to be full restored, Muzikar said. The company has 6,000 workers on-call, but they must first identifty the extent of the damage and if it's safe for workers to begin repairs, Muzikar said.

More than 10,000 Somerset County residents were without power Sunday morning at about 10 a.m.

According to PSE&G, there were more than 5,000 outages in each Bridgewater, Franklin Township, Montgomery and North Plainfield as of 10 a.m. There were more than 2,000 outages in Hillsborough and more than 500 in Warren.

Emergency officials were responding to flooding in several communities, and in some cases, reports of trees falling into homes.

“Our top priority is the safety of our residents,” Somerset County Freeholder Director Robert Zaborowski said in a statement Sunday morning.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance for residents to stay off the roads unless it is absolutely necessary to leave home. The potential for injury from falling trees and flooded roads is very high."

Most of Somerset County’s municipalities have sustained some level of flooding, including Manville, Bound Brook, Franklin Township, South Bound Brook, Green Brook, North Plainfield, Branchburg and Hillsborough, the statement read.

The Red Cross has opened shelters at Bound Brook High School, 111 West Union Ave., Bound Brook; Manville VFW, 600 Washington Ave.; and Raritan Valley Community College, 118 Lamington Road, Branchburg. In addition, several municipalities have opened shelters, including  Somerville, Franklin, Hillsborough, Rocky Hill and South Bound Brook.

“At some point the rain will stop and you may be tempted to go about your normal routine, please don’t," Zaborowski said. "The potential for injury and problems will continue throughout the day.”

New Jersey transit bus, rail and light rail service remained suspended and was not scheduled to resume Sunday.