Wind and rain knocked out electrical power to about 254 JCP&L customers in the area of River Road and Harris Park in Red Bank early Monday. Restoration was expected by 5 a.m., according to the company’s outage map.
Motorists traveling into Red Bank via southbound Route 35 may encounter delays Thursday as a utility crew continues post-accident work at Pearl, Water and Wall streets.
A power line that came down on Newman Springs Road caused hundreds of Red Bank residents to lose full or partial electrical service Tuesday night.
The incident also interrupted some Gabbagools hard at work across the street.
A stretch of Fair Haven Road in Fair Haven remained closed at mid-afternoon Monday as utility workers replaced a pole downed in a brief storm Sunday night.
The sewage pump station at the foot of Cooper’s Bridge was once used as a gas manufacturing plant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than a century after it served as a gas works, a riverfront Red Bank property may get some 20th-century environmental remediation.
Coal tar and other toxic wastes beneath the town’s Bodman Place sewage pumping station overlooking the Navesink are slated to be immobilized by technology known as ‘jet grouting,’ according to borough officials.
An easterly view along River Road from Cedar Street earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See UPDATES below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Electricity supplier JCP&L may be unplugging itself from an agreement to install low-energy streetlamps in Fair Haven, Environmental Commission Chairman Ralph Wyndrum said Wednesday night.
That prompted some choice words about the utility from commission member and former councilman Jon Peters. Among them: “They are the princes and princesses of darkness.”
Yes, the flashing sign shown above has a typo. But starting Friday, the eastbound lane of East Bergen Place from Broad Street to South Street in Red Bank will be closed for utility work, the borough announced Wednesday.
A backhoe operator was lucky to be alive after his machine struck a live power line in Red Bank Tuesday morning.
Six days after Tropical Storm Isaias, electrical service was almost fully restored on the Greater Green early Monday, just in time for some uncomfortably hot weather.
As of 6 a.m., 11 homes and businesses in Fair Haven were awaiting restoration of power from First Energy/JCP&L, down from more than 2,300 at the peak, according to the utility’s outage map. Fewer than 5 each in Red Bank and Little Silver were still without service, the map indicated.
Ambient temperatures and humidity will combine to create feels-like peaks to nearly 100 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The extended forecast for the Greater Green is below.
The effects of Tropical Storm Isaias continued to disrupt life on the Greater Green early Friday, three days after it passed through the region.
As of 6 a.m., 80,411 homes and businesses in Monmouth County did not have electrical service from First Energy/JCP&L, or more than one in four customers, according to the utility’s outage map, shown above.
See details about Red Bank, Fair Haven and Little Silver below.
No injuries were reported, and power was not immediately affected, after a utility pole snapped and fell against a building on English Plaza in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
Fair Haven and other towns on the Greater Red Bank Green were abuzz with the sound of power saws Tuesday morning as residents worked to clear downed trees and limbs following Monday evening’s brief, intense storm.
AÂ brief, intense storm Monday evening blew a tree down onto an apartment building on Spring Street in Red Bank, above, and left numerous power outages across the Greater Green, according to the JCP&L service map, at right.
More thunderstorms, some severe, were possible overnight, according to the National Weather Service. (Photo by John Tyler.  Click to enlarge.)
Jersey Central Power & Light’s outage map showed electricity out for up to 100 Red Bank customers Friday following an early-morning incident in which two utility poles on Maple Avenue snapped.
Billing for service would continue to come from JCP&L even for those customers who participate in the aggregation plan. (Image by Concord. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In an effort to head off shocks to residents about anticipated changes to their electricity bills, Red Bank official kicked off a public outreach effort Thursday.
Driving the effort: the borough’s planned entry into the “energy aggregation” marketplace, where the local government serves as a bundler of customers to obtain better rates than those offered by Jersey Central Power & Light.
The former home of the Visiting Nurse Association is seen as the answer to a chunk of Red Bank’s affordable housing obligation. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to resolve Red Bank’s so-called Mount Laurel affordable housing obligation is up for resolution Wednesday night.
Also up for votes: a series of small-bore zoning changes, help for motorists at a dicey corner and more. Here’s a look at the busy agenda.
JCP&L’s power distribution facility adjoining Mohawk Pond in Red Bank. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are considering passage of a law that would automatically turn Jersey Central Power & Light customers in the borough into customers of another electricity provider unless they opt out.
Charlie Velazquez said he was “still shaking” after his near brush with death. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Middlesex County man said he was “lucky to be alive” after a live electrical line landed on the van he was driving in Red Bank Wednesday morning. More →
A storm that dropped several inches of wet, heavy snow on the Greater Red Bank Green Wednesday left dozens of customers without electrical service early Thursday morning, as shown in JCP&L’s outage map above.
A pedestrian suffered minor injuries when she was hit by falling debris as a FedEx truck exiting the Red Bank Post Office caught overhead wires and pulled a utility pole down on Broad Street at about 4:40 p.m. Thursday, according to police Chief Darren McConnell.
A power outage prompted officials to close Brookdale Community College Wednesday, the school announced on social media.
Crews from JCP&L and Little Silver cleared a fallen tree and electrical line on Branch Avenue, where a service line was torn away from the house at left during a wind storm Sunday morning. The utility company’s outage map showed up to 100 customers in both Little Silver and the River Plaza section of Middletown without power, with lesser numbers in Shrewsbury and Fair Haven.
The National Weather Service had a high-wind warning in effect until noon, with possible gusts of of 50 to 60 miles per hour. And . (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Red Bank officials are warning residents of a phone scam making the rounds.
In an alert issued Wednesday, the police said the scammers use methods to trick residents into believing the calls come from electric utility JCP&L.
Traffic was heavy on Bridge Avenue and other roads surrounding Hubbard’s Bridge during Wednesday’s morning rush. Below, an unidentified worker carries a granite block, one of many such paving stones and old red bricks unearthed during the first day of work on the intersection on the Red Bank side of the span.  (Photo below by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Message to motorists stuck in the somewhat-suddenly-worse-again traffic surrounding Hubbard’s Bridge between Middletown and Red Bank: think of the kids.
That’s one spin that officials put on a two-to-three-week closure of the span that was announced late last Friday and took effect Wednesday morning.
The Red Bank Police Department issued this notice early Wednesday afternoon:
WARNING: GREEN DOT PHONE SCAM
In the recent weeks, Red Bank Police Department has received a large number of reports from victims of a telephone fraud operation. These frauds have been documented on the news and are occurring throughout the nation.
In the scam, the victim is contacted by a person representing themselves as an employee of a business. In many of the scams, the callers have been identifying themselves as representatives of JCP&L (power company) however other business names and agencies have been used as well. The caller tells the person that they are late on paying their power bill and their power will be shut off if they do not pay immediately. The caller then directs the victim to purchase Green Dot MoneyPak cards.