Sandy Knocked Out Power to 87% of Morris County, OEM Says

Tropical Storm Sandy knocked out power to about 87 percent of an electric company's customers in Morris County, the Morris County Office of Emergency Management coordinator said Tuesday.

Along with the widespread power outages, a "tremendous amount of hazards" exist on roads throughout the county, and officials are encouraging the public to stay home so crews can address issues, including down trees, wires and utility poles, on main thoroughfares, said Jeffrey S. Paul, coordinator for the county OEM.

"We did get hit pretty hard," Paul said. "Everyone's doing a great job. Certainly everyone's overwhelmed."

Paul said Jersey Central Power & Light had about 170,000 customers in Morris County without power on Tuesday, including more than 20,000 in Parsippany alone

One of JCP&L's affected Morris County customers was the entire Borough of Madison, which runs its own electric utility and relies on JCP&L feeder lines, which were reported down Monday night.

Paul said it would help emergency officials if everyone understood the magnitude of the problems and that officials need to prioritize the order in which issues will be addressed, he said.

Before the storm, the Red Cross and Morris County officials set up a shelter at Mennen Arena in Morris Township at the state's request. Evacuees from throughout New Jersey and Morris County residents potentially could use the shelter and the county is waiting for additional information from the state to see how the shelter best can be used, Paul said.