PSE&G, CL&P, National Grid Working on Power Outages, Restoration Could Take Weeks

After a nor'easter pummeled the area on Saturday, Oct. 29, the Northeast is now clambering to clean up the aftermath.

More than 2.3 million customers, stretching all the way from Maryland to New England, lost power on Saturday and early Sunday morning, due to the storm.

Electricity companies such as PSE&G, New Jersey's largest electric and gas utility, warned for potentially lengthy outages on its Web site, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Full restoration may not be possible until Wednesday, says PSE&G, but other reports say it could take weeks.

This storm has impacted over 400,000 of our Massachusetts customers, said Kathy Lyford, vice president of operations for the president of National Grid in New England. This was a record-breaking October storm, by far the worst October storm we've had in New England.

We serve 172 communities, from an electric perspective, from the Merrimack Valley to Rhode Island and out to western New York, Lyford said. Virtually every area was hit by the storm.

The National Grid is just another one of the companies that is handling power outages and downed electrical lines.

Nearly 700,000 individuals lost power in Connecticut, served by CL&P. This number surpassed even the number of outages caused by hurricane Irene in August, reports News 8.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned that it could be quite some time before power is restored to residents.

If you are without power, you should expect to be without power for a prolonged period of time, Malloy said Saturday night, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Power outages could remain for possibly a week or longer due to the sheer number of individuals who need to be serviced.

The unseasonably early storm was especially treacherous because the leaves are still on the trees, as is the norm for the middle of autumn.

As the heavy, wet snow continued to fall for hours on end, the weight became too much, and powerful gusts of wind, at speeds of up to 55 mph, brought trees and limbs crashing down.

Three people reportedly died in the storm, including an 84-year-old man from Pennsylvania who was killed when a tree fell on his home while he was napping in his recliner.

Communities in Massachusetts were hit the hardest, buried under 26 inches of snow.

But the New York City area did not fair well, either. New York City's Central Park recorded a record snow fall level for the date, as well as for the whole month of October, with 1.3 inches.

Areas in Western New Jersey received up to 14 inches.

Transportation was greatly affected, with trains being delayed or cancelled due to fallen trees on the tracks and signal problems.

A JetBlue plane was stranded on a tarmac for seven hours at the Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. The plane ran out of snacks and water and the toilet backed up.

A spokesperson for JetBlue, Victoria Lucia, said in an e-mailed statement that six JetBlue flights, carrying around 700 passengers altogether, were diverted to Hartford as a result of a confluence of events, including infrastructure construction and power outages.

CL&P has advised individuals to stay at least 10 feet away from wires. Any downed, hanging or burning power lines could be live and dangerous.

If a power line does fall on your vehicle while you're inside, you are advised to stay put. Do not touch anything outside the vehicle, reported News 8, and wait for emergency crews. Anyone in an emergency situation is urged to call 911.