Utility companies work to restore power to thousands after Monday storm

Thousands of New Jersey utility customers are still without electricity two days after a line of thunderstorms brought down trees and power lines across the state.
Most are JCP&L customers in Monmouth and Ocean counties. PSE&G is reporting most of its outages are in Burlington and Camden counties.
The companies have brought in out-of-state workers to assist in the restoration. But the utilities say it could be late Friday before service is fully restored. The state Board of Public Utilities says restoration could take until late into the weekend.
Gov. Phil Murphy toured a staging area outside the Monmouth Park Race Track in Oceanport Wednesday morning to get briefed on the progress.
At the height of Monday's storms, more than 360,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in the state.
New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin criticized the utility companies’ response to the storm. He is calling on them to take a closer look at their procedures before, during and after storms and come up with a better plan of action.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.