Monmouth County continues to have the most outages in New Jersey, as some residents enter day four without power.

 

Thousands of JCP&L customers, including residents in Middletown, are still without power. Mayor Tony Perry says the Middletown ShopRite and Foodtown are providing free ice and water. There are also cooling stations at the Middletown town hall and senior center. 

Many residents in one section of town are very fortunate to have generators.

“The generator is doing just fine,” says Paul Sakson. “I don’t know what I would do without it actually.”

Up the road, Tom Stewart not only has a dedicated generator, he installs them for a living. He’s been very busy, not only calling out a tree service to remove those that fell in the storm, but taking calls from those who want a generator installed right away.

“They want it immediately and there’s too much involved," says Stewart. "There’s permitting, the towns are involved. You have to do gas and electric. Everything has to be right.”

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Residents with portable generators like Sakson continue to fill them with gas and wait for the power to return.

“I can’t wait until it’s back online, but I’ve seen a couple of trucks here and there and a lot of the other residences across the highway are all open and they have power so it’s just a matter of time,” says Sakson.

Officials are concerned many in town are using portable generators. The mayor says they’re helpful, but also a concern because they are dangerous if used improperly.

"It's so important for the public to understand that they have to keep at minimum a 15- to 20-foot distance from their home with these portable generators and make sure the exhaust is pointing in a direction away from their house because our fire department already in two days has responded to over 100 carbon monoxide calls," says Mayor Perry.

JCP&L Spokesperson Cliff Cole continues to say 85% of customers will have their power restored by 11:30 p.m., with the remaining 15% Tuesday by 11:30 p.m.