Today’s Star-Ledger has a story on the residual power outages from Wednesday’s storm, most of which are concentrated in this corner of Monmouth County.

And the Asbury Park Press reported at 7:30a that between 501 and 2,000 customers still had no electrical power in Fair Haven, Red Bank, Highlands and Tinton Falls, with outages also in Atlantic Highlands, Middletown and Rumson.

From the Ledger story:

Few areas were hit harder than a swath of Shrewsbury, where traffic lights on busy Route 35 remained out and icy tree limbs littered the side streets. Every limb seemed to have a wire under it…

For the majority in the cold, power was expected to be restored by early this morning, said Ron Morano, a spokesman for JCP&L, the utility hit hardest by the storm. Most others would be reconnected to the grid later today, Morano said.

For an unlucky few who lost lines that had been attached to their houses, however, the wait could stretch into tomorrow.

Also:

With the municipal building also in the dark, [Shrewsbury Mayor Emilia] Siciliano set up shop at the local firehouse — a designated “warming center” — and worked on her needlepoint.

She said she stayed home Wednesday night but decided to find another place yesterday morning when the room temperature fell to 48 degrees.

“Even the mayor didn’t hunker down at home, not at 48 degrees,” Siciliano said.

Monmouth County officials set up additional warming centers in Tinton Falls, Highlands and Howell. The centers opened Wednesday night, but few people showed up.

Harry Conover, the county emergency management coordinator, urged people who remained without power to take advantage of the shelters.

“People right now don’t realize the seriousness of this. They think they can tough it out,” Conover said. “But when it gets to 40 degrees or colder in your house, it’s dangerous.”

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