Dark Homes in A Sea of Light

The noon Saturday Bernards Township update for the township's recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy's landing in the area on Oct. 29 put the number of power outages in Bernards at 1,660, down from 2,500 on Friday and about 6,600 a few days earlier.

But for the roughly 12 percent of township households without power that may be cold comfort. And it may especially be the case for those for whom neighboring streets — or sometimes even neighbors on their street — have received power, while they haven't.

Laurie Albee, who lives at 96 Alder Lane in The Hills, said that about half of her street has power, while others remain without.

Albee, who not only has her own family, but also relatives from the shore staying with her, said that workers for JCP&L haven't been seen in the area since most of The Hills went back on last week.

All five households on her cul-de-sac remin without power, she said on Saturday afternoon. Up and down the street, she said some houses have power, located next to those without.

Albee said she believes that nearby Huntington Road and Smoke Rise Road also have homes without power.

She said she drove around on Friday, talking to some of JCP&L's subcontractors around town, and was told that all that was needed to return power to her home was basically getting a fuse on that line. But — as officials have noted — the workers cannot move on to another job without directions from the main headquarters.

"It's literally crazy," Albee said of her situation, and others nearby. She said she understands the power company's priorities but would hope that those in her situation are not "forgotten."

The township website on Saturday evening included a list of streets believed to restored.

Another resident told Patch that Shephard Way had remained without power through Friday because of a tree that had taken down a wire, even after neighboring streets such as Quincy Road and Harcourt Lane had been restored on Nov. 1.

Eventually, Shephard got power back sometime between 3 and 4 p.m. on Friday after a crew apparently came by to reconnect the primarily line, although the tree remains.

That left one home on Shephard without power, she said. "The pole with lines leading to their home needs to be fixed. Hopefully they'll be part of the weekend work," she observed.

A JCP&L announcement on Friday said that power will be restored throughout the state by Saturday night, except for those customers that would need work for the lines leading directly to their homes or business.

At Friday's meeting of Bernards Township officials, Township Committeeman John Malay said that he, too, had been hearing from residents in The Hills without power, and had advised them to again call JCP&L.

Albee said her neighbors had received varying explanations from JCP&L.