Community Corner

Power Starting to Light Up Fair Haven

Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli: Power started being restored in increments tonight

Yes, that was light that you may have seen flickering from parts of Fair Haven.

"As of 8:29 p.m., power has been restored to parts of Hance Road, River Road near Hance, The Gentry, Third and Forman streets and Parker Avenue," Police Chief Darryl Breckenridge announced.

Mayor Ben Lucarelli said that power restoration is making steady progress, despite adverse weather conditions, and he's hopeful for more powering up sooner than later in the coming days.

Find out what's happening in Rumson-Fair Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There are two circuits in town with full crews working on each," he explained. "The crews are working diligently to get power restoration to everyone, especially considering the cold weather."

The mayor said that while he wished he could give a definitive answer as to when, exactly, power will be restored to all, he said he will get word out, via Patch and other sources as soon as any area is restored.

Find out what's happening in Rumson-Fair Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Earlier today ...

It’s been a dreary day with a nor’easter blowing in, and Fair Haven and Rumson residents have been growing wearier by the minute as most head into day 10 without electricity.

Mayor Ben Lucarelli had said that he expected most of Fair Haven, which is still nearly completely void of power, to be restored by today. However, according to the JCP&L power restoration map, the majority of customers are expected to be restored by 11:59 p.m. Friday.

The site reported 1,493 customers without electricity. In Rumson, 1,351 are reported to still be without power and the same restoration date and time is estimated.

Lucarelli added though that there is some good news that trumps some of the bad news. "There are five JCP&L crews working to restore power on Hance and will be making their way from Ridge to River," the mayor said on the Fair Haven Facebook page this morning.

Yesterday, the mayor said that the good news is that the Fair Haven substation is now energized, which means it is ready to start powering up neighborhoods and “distribution crews are now coming into town to begin restoring electricity.”

He added that while the JCP&L estimate for restoration gives a more grim picture, he anticipates that there will be some pockets of incremental restoration before Friday.

The bad news: The nor’easter is slowing down progress because of prohibitive weather conditions. And, the mayor said, the crews were delayed due to an emergency in another town, so that pushes back the timetable for complete service restoration.

Nonetheless, there was what looked like a cavalry of crews parked in Fair Haven Fields today. In addition to electric trucks from out of state, such as Alabama Electric, there are also forestry crews that have been brought in to clear felled trees from electric lines. Verizon trucks were parked there as well.

“We have to get the trees off the lines before any power can be restored,” Lucrelli said. “There were a lot of trees that downed wires in town. I’d say that the hardest hit area was Buena Vista (Avenue).”

In Rumson, the traffic light at the corner of Bingham Avenue and River Road has been working.


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