Parts of New Jersey are staggering back to normal on Tuesday after a historic heat wave and heavy storms caused widespread power outages and some localized flooding in recent days. Some North Jersey residents could remain without power for days longer.
State officials said 29 people died of heat-related causes between July 2 and July 6, as high temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and lows lingered in the high 80s and low 90s. Many of the victims were found in homes without air conditioning.
The heat wave broke after a series of intense storms that brought damaging winds and flooding to parts of the Garden State. Newark airport registered wind gusts as high as 71 mph, according to John Krasting, New Jersey's state climatologist.
All of that — especially the wind — wreaked havoc on the power grid. Roughly 21,000 JCP&L customers and 4,000 PSE&G customers remained without power as of noon Tuesday.
That was just taking out really healthy trees, which were bringing down a lot of power lines,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday at a press conference after viewing a storm-damaged BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ocean Township.
PSE&G, which serves New Jersey’s urban core and is the state’s largest electric utility, has seen more than 380,000 customers experience outages since noon on July 1. More than 650 trees fell in the company’s service area, contributing to the outages and impeding crews working to restore power.
"Our crews have made tremendous progress under extraordinarily difficult conditions, but we know that statistic means little to the customers who are still waiting for their lights to come back on," Paul Toscarelli, PSE&G’s vice president of electric operations, said in a statement. "For those remaining customers, we understand this has been a long and frustrating week. Please know that every remaining outage matters to us, and we will continue working safely, around the clock, until every customer who can be restored has power back."
JCP&L has a divided territory, serving suburban and rural areas in northwestern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore.
Chris Hoenig, a JCP&L spokesperson, said in a statement that 350,000 of the utility’s customers experienced outages in recent days. The majority of those still in the dark should have their power restored either Tuesday night or Wednesday, Hoenig said, though, the hardest-hit parts of Morris County would likely not get power back until Thursday.
“This has been extremely difficult and frustrating for our customers,” Hoenig said. “We are keeping our foot on the gas and will not slow down until every last customer has their power restored.”
JCP&L has been heavily criticized for its storm response in the past, and that has returned with this storm. Republican lawmakers have called on the state Board of Public Utilities to hold oversight hearings about JCP&L’s storm response.
"This isn't a one-off storm story. This is JCP&L's business model," Assemblymember Greg McGuckin, a Republican who represents Ocean County, said in a statement. "Year after year, our residents suffer some of the longest outages in the state. Ocean County has one of New Jersey's largest senior populations, and JCP&L keeps treating four- and five-day outages during heat emergencies like the cost of doing business. It has to stop."
State Sen. Vin Gopal, a Democrat representing Monmouth County, said internal communication issues within JCP&L appeared to hamper the utility’s messaging with local officials and residents. It’s a frustration that has been persistent for years.
“I had been seeing improvement, but this storm was very disappointing,” Gopal said.
Sherrill signed a package of bills related to energy costs and infrastructure into law earlier on Tuesday, including one that places new regulations in place for utilities making new investment in infrastructure like power lines. Sherrill said the goal of that measure is to give state authorities more oversight and influence over which projects are being invested in.
“The utility companies have sort of had a little bit of a blank check where they want to invest and how they want to invest,” Sherrill said. “ We want to make sure that they're investing with some of the most modern technologies that also happen to be some of the least expensive in driving down costs for ratepayers.”
The heat and storms caused major headaches for NJ Transit, which canceled trains due to dozens of downed trees and damaged infrastructure. By Tuesday morning, service had been restored to most of the system, though the Morris & Essex Line and Montclair-Boonton Line continued to run on limited schedules Tuesday.
The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management has opened its damage assessment portal for residents to document storm impacts to their property. Those reports will help guide state authorities as they consider seeking federal resources for storm recovery. Sherrill said the state will need a certain amount of property damage before making a case for federal funds. Even then, it’s not a given that federal authorities will grant the request.
“We've seen some of those decisions, with this administration and under President Trump, get pretty political,” Sherrill said.
Flooding plagued roads around the state after a Monday deluge, with coastal Monmouth County being hit particularly hard. More than 6 inches of rain were reported in Neptune Township, Krasting said, with the surrounding area generally getting between 3 to 5 inches. Water rescues were reported in places like Deal, Asbury Park and Ocean Township — which had 74 water rescues alone, according to Sherrill.
Krasting said the storms essentially parked for hours, dumping rain in one spot rather than moving along. The weather pattern is becoming more common in New Jersey due to climate change.
“ When it does rain, it rains a lot more,” Krasting said. “We see more flash flooding, we see more extreme precipitation events. And without a lot of extra energy in the atmosphere to move things along, if these storms sit over the same area over and over again, they can really cause problems.”
This story has been updated with more information.
