Fallen trees were the main reason the restoration was not finished in Morristown and Morris Township, a JCP&L spokesman said
MORRISTOWN -- The number of customers with power outages in Morris County resulting from Thursday's storm dropped steadily over the course of the day Friday, with 1,826 outages remaining at 5:10 p.m. -- the vast majority of them in Morristown and Morris Township.
The torrential downpour left about 20,000 Jersey Central Power & Light customers without power in the northern part of the state on Thursday afternoon, said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.
But by late Friday afternoon, that number was down to 3,100.
Morris and Warren counties were the hardest hit, Morano said. However, by late Friday, Warren was almost completely back, with just 136 outages left, as shown on JCP&L's outage map.
The 1,826 remaining outages in Morris included 1,343 in Morristown and 468 in Morris Township. The 1,826 in Morris compared with 4,200 on Friday morning and 9,600 at the peak on Friday.
Crews continued work to restore power and all customers were expected to have their lights on by 11:30 p.m., Morano said.
Morristown and Morris Township were the hardest hit due to "a lot of tree damage," Morano said.
The "ferocious weather" took down many poles and power lines in those towns and crews were working to restore the power in batches, Morano said.
In those areas, crews "de-energize" lines to make it safer to complete repairs, and then when things are fixed, they "re-energize them," Morano said, so when that happens, the outage numbers can drop dramatically.
JCP&L moved crews from its central region to the Morristown area and also had contractor crews assisting restoration efforts, said Susie Sefcik, a spokeswoman for the town of Morristown.
She urged customers to stay away from any downed wires and to use extra caution in areas where downed wires are tangled with trees or other debris.
Meanwhile, JCP&L was offering water and ice free of charge to customers who are still without service, at locations in Morris and Warren counties including the ShopRite supermarkets in Phillipsburg, Hackettstown, Flanders, Netcong, Succasunna, Rockaway Towship and Wharton; and at Weis Markets in Mount Olive.
Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.