Outages Down, But Still Significant in Basking Ridge, Somerset Hills

With power restored later on Tuesday to two elementary schools in Bernards Township, and reported outages were dropping, but the reported number of JCP&L customers without power was still above a thousand in Basking Ridge and the village of Liberty Corner on Wednesday morning.

The JCP&L outage map as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday listed 1,111 customers without power in Basking Ridge, and 163 in Liberty Corner, with the Liberty Corner number up from a day or so earlier.

Bernardsville Borough, where officials had turned was down to 851 customers without power, the map said.

Other reported outages were 436 in Far Hills — although Far Hills Police Chief Kenneth Hartman had said previously that some of those customers have Far Hills addresses and actually live in other towns, including Bernards Township — 231 in Bedminster, 67 in Gladstone, and 154 in Peapack.

Further west, rural Hunterdon County continued to experience significant outages, with more than 2,000 outages each in households listed under Califon and Whitehouse Station addresses. A reader from High Bridge emailed Patch late Tuesday that many households out there are still waiting for information and power.

In Bernards Township, officials listed a breakdown of township streets without power as of Tuesday night, and estimated times with returns of power on the Bernards Township website.

Schools also were open in the Somerset Hills Regional School District, which has all three buildings in Bernardsville. However, roads did remain closed in sections of the borough.

Bernardsville Borough Police Chief Kevin Valentine said he continues to communicate with JCP&L command staff and our area manager several times a day.

"Our needs and requests are being made to them continuously," the chief said n a Wednesday morning update. "However, their response is slow and information is vague. I know we are looking for street specific restoration times. I have been requesting this information all along and I have yet to receive it." He said he was expecting the information later on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday morning, officials received a report of 857 outages remaining in Bernardsville, Valentine said.

"At this point it is still estimated that we should be fully restored by tomorrow night with a significant amount of residents receiving power today sometime," Valentine said in the Wednesday morning update.