Contacts |Overview |Govt Links | News: | Shelters: | Utilities: | Transportation: |
Apps | Storm Maps | Aftermath | Voting

Contacts:

Bridgewater Police                    908 243-8632  (911 for emergencies)
Bridgewater Township                  908 725-6300
New Jersey State Health & Information 211
Somerset Co EMS                       909 231-7124
AARP New Jersey                       866 542-8165
Utilities: See below 

It could be the most powerful storm on make landfall in New Jersey in modern history. NJ.com.

While Sandy's winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane, its width was what made it exceptional. Hurricane force winds extended 105 miles from its center while its lesser tropical storm-force winds reached across 900 miles. This more than twice the size of the average hurricane.
Bridgewater is about 100 miles north of where Sandy hit landfall in South Jersey.
See Hurricane Anatomy

How much did it cost? - How much was due to sea level rise?
New York City Mayor Bloomberg estimates the total public and private losses to New York City to be $19 billion.
Governor Christie estimates Sandy related storms to be about $36.8 billion dollars.
I couldn't find data on how much of Sandy damage was due to flooding and how much from wind. And given the 14 ft storm surge in New York harbor, how much more damage will another 12-16 inches of sea level rise by 2050 cause?

Govt Links
National Hurricane Center (www.nhc.noaa.gov) -  Sandy
   Active Storms - Public Advisories
  National Weather Forecast Office - South NJ | New York City
  AccuWeather | weather.com | NWS Mobile | Wunderground

New Jersey Office of Emergency Management
 (ready.nj.gov/plan/hurricanes.html)
LIST OF PHARMACIES, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS AND GAS STATIONS THAT ARE UP AND RUNNING
  - NJOEM (READY NJ) Alerts
 
Sign up for alerts from local agencies at Nixle.com
 - Somerset County - Police: Bound Brook, Green Brook,
    Raritan, Far Hills , NJ State
    
FEMA-Federal Emergency Management Agency (www.ready.gov)
 - Hurricanes - Before During and After
 
Emergency Preparedness and Response  Hurricanes - CDC 
  - Key Facts about Hurricane Readiness (Emergency Supplies)
  
NWS Hurricane Safety Brochure - NOAA (Before, During, After the storm)

News:
Aftermath: ABC | Fox | Huffington Post

See more aftermath news below.

The Complete Story of Sandy: a Timeline of Horror and Recovery at gizmodo

Hurricane Sandy Takes Out 25 Percent Of Cell Towers | HuffingtonPpost

- New Jersey Real-Time News - NJ.com - Somerset County News
  Hurricane Sandy live chat: Real-time questions and answers for Monday | NJ.com
  Recent news

Hurricane Sandy speeds towards landfall - CBS News Mon

 New Jersey 101.5 Radio FM - Listen
 1450 WCTC Talk Radio AM New Brunswick  - Listen

 NJTV | Public Media NJ
  Television Stations at Station Index: New York | Philadelphia
  
Shelters: 
Somerset Co.: Raritan Valley Community College; Manville VFW on Washington Ave..
Morris Co:  Mennen Arena in Morris Ttwp.; Lake Hiawatha Elementary School - Parcippany,

South Jersey See:
SaveJersey.com | Verizon FiOS1 News 
Philadelphia area and South Jersey | CBS Philly 
New York City and S. Jersey Shelters - NYC.gov

Shelters accepting pets  | Examiner.com


Utilities:
NJ Board of Public Utilities | Customer Assistance 

Verizon | News Center - Homepage

Cablevision:
Optimum Online - Customer Support Phone List
Optimum Online - Customer Support - FAQ
Cablevision notes from Irene in 2011

PSE&G: - Outages (www.pseg.com/outagecenter)
See pseg.com/pdf/PSEG Workforce Schedule 20121103-05-2.pdf for the Expected Time of Restoration (ETR)?
Bridgewater is end of day Sun. 11/4.
See also Why is everyone being told the same Expected Time of Restoration? at PSEG.com

According to to Bridgewater Mayor, Dan Hayes, message on Fri. Nov. 2,
"In a call with PSE&G, they mentioned their remaining substations should be energized today (Friday). When a substation is energized circuits are loaded. The integrity of the circuit depends upon local damage. Local damage is considerable in the area of town bounded by Washington Valley Road, Route 202-206 and Route 22. PSE&G continues to state power will be restored to the majority of residents by November 11th."

Their message from Sunday 10/28:
To report downed wires or power outages, customers should call PSE&G's Customer Service line at 1-800-436-PSEG. PSE&G uses an automated system to handle customer calls as efficiently as possible. Customers who get an automated response when calling PSE&G are encouraged to use it, as it is designed to route their calls to the right destination quickly. The system also provides the option to speak directly to a customer service representative. If you have specific information regarding damage to wires, transformers or poles, we ask that you speak with a representative to provide that information.

I called the above number 3 times on Saturday 11/3 with the following results.

1. Message saying Customer Service Reps had been assigned to handling emergencies and to stay on the line if you had a gas leak or other emergency.
2. Busy
3. A similar message to 1 saying I could stay on the line to report a power outage. I entered my phone number (which I've had for 15 years) and it said it couldn't find my account.
4. Same as above but I entered my account number and it said they were not aware of a problem in my area and would investigate and get back to me in a week.

Customers with a handheld device, or who are at an alternate location with power, can also report power outages and view the status of their outage by logging in to My Account at pseg.com. General outage activity throughout our service territory is available online at www.pseg.com/outagecenter and updates are posted on pseg.com during severe weather.

Jersey Central Power and Light: (FirstEnergy)
Hurricane Sandy - News | FirstEnergy Storm Center (outages.firstenergycorp.com)
Report Power Outages
If you have a downed power line or another hazardous situation, do not complete this form. Instead, call 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877) immediately.

For updated information on the company's preparation efforts for the hurricane, current outages, FirstEnergy's storm restoration process and tips for staying safe, go to www.firstenergycorp.com or www.jcp-l.com. JCP&L will also provide updates via Twitter at @JCP_L, and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/JCPandL.

Report Power Outages (www.firstenergycorp.com)

New Jersey Transit - Home

Apps
See: Techland.TIME.com

Aftermath - Bridgewater NJ
See Power Outage Survival Tips

News: The Complete Story of Sandy: a Timeline of Horror and Recovery at gizmodo
Bridgewater Mayor's Evening Storm Update: Tue., Oct 30 , Fri., Nov. 2, Tue., Nov 6

As of Wed. morning, 11/7 there there were more than 4,000 without power (3,419 PSE&G and 888 JCP&L), about 28% of the 14,842 residences and 450 commercial and industrial buildings *. According to reports from the PSE&G work plan (pseg.com/workplan),
About 316 are expected to get power back Wednesday, 416 on Thursday, 516 on Friday and 1,411 on Saturday
* The households and businesses above somes from the tax office. PSE&G has a higher number.

After the weekend, according to the plan, about 760 PSE&G customers (about 6%) are still expected to be without power in Bridgewater.

After nor'easter, Athena, Wed. JCP&L outages in Bridgewater were up slightly to 996.
Company wide PSE&G said as of Thu AM they still had 70,000 customers out from Sandy and 40,000 from the nor'easter. This was down from 185,380 customers out on Wed.
Source: Nor'Easter Could Hamper Power Restoration, Police Chief Says - Bridgewater, NJ Patch

As of Fri. Nov 8th.
The mayor says,
In my group and private discussions, both utilities continue to cling to their plans for global (virtually all customer) restoration by the 10th Ð the morning of the 11th at the latest.
You should report your outage to PSE&G 1-800-436-PSEG (463-7734). Their message says they will notify you when power is up.

Right after storm: ABC | Fox | Huffington Post

PSE&G worked on commercial areas and hospitals on Tuesday. A few trucks showed up in Bridgewater by Wednesday afternoon. The local township cannot clear trees blocking roads that are touching power lines, PSE&G must release the lines first.
They updated their estimated outages on Wed to over 10,000 in Bridgewater (14,800 residences, 500 Comercial and Industrial).
As of Thursday I only saw one PSE&G truck, however more showed up on Friday. Governor Christie said they are bringing in more crews from as far away as Alabama. Most of them are working in Southern NJ.

Some mobile phone service is flakey. Some are predicting it will get worse as backup generators at the towers run out of fuel, which is in short supply.
Verizon FIOS TV is working on Washington Valley Rd. in Martinsville, but for TV and Internet only, no phone.
Township 911 dispatch was down so calls were rerouted; some people reported getting busy signal.

There were over 2-3 hour waits for gas. One person got in line at 7 AM and waited 2 1/2 hours for the Hess on Rt 22. Lines were over 1 1/2 miles long.
(Problem: Gas stations without power, Shortage of supply because of pipeline, refinery and port closures and people needing gas for generators.)
On Friday they started up the pipeline, opened the ports and suspended restrictions on foreign vessels, so it should get better.

On Thursday one person found gas at a Wawa in the Phillipsburg area off Route 22 on Roseberry Street near the PA border, with only a 20 min. wait.

McDonalds, Costco, Home Depot, Target, ShopRite and a few other stores were open Wed.
WalMart was still closed.

LIST OF PHARMACIES, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS AND GAS STATIONS THAT ARE UP AND RUNNING - NJOEM (READY NJ) Alerts

The State Police Regional Operation and Intelligence Center (ROIC) has the same list.

I couldn't find a working ATM. Although power seemed to be up on Rt 28 in Bound Brook, the banks were closed and ATMs were not working. The ATM at Quick Check had power but says "Temporarily out of service". Bank of America in Somerville was open.

Pictures - Martinsvlle NJ
Video from my back yard in Martinsville, NJ 5 PM Monday with 35 mph sustained winds. Winds went up to 50 mph about 9 PM. The rescue squad suspended operations around 11 with gusts over 70 mph.

I was lucky.
I had a few ridge shingles which blew off, the trunk of an elm tree which had died 15 years ago came down, but was far enough away it missed my house and another 30' tree on the border with my neighbor blew over but didn't hit anything. All the 60-70 ft oak and maple trees survived. A small crack in the outer pain of a window got bigger, so I'll have to replace it.
I could hear small limbs hitting the side of my house, but the larger ones fell to the ground before reaching the house.
I hauled away 6 loads of tree limbs in my utility trailer.

Martinsville and Bridgewater Pictures.   Click on image below for a larger version

No sign of electrical or telephone company trucks on Tuesday, so it will be a while before we get power back.

Some Voting Places Changed
Text your full home address to 877877 to find out where to vote.
Or call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
Source: Text Messaging Helping NJ Voters Get to Polls in Aftermath of Storm | Mobile Commons

Mail-in ballots will be available from 8:15 a.m to 3 p.m. Monday. The ballots can be picked up at the county administration building, 20 Grove Street, Somerville.
Or you can do it by email:

1. Download the application at nj.gov/state/elections/form_pdf/vote-mail-ballot-012712-som.pdf
2. Send the application to the county clerk by fax at 908-253-8853, or by email at CountyClerk@co.somerset.nj.us before 5 p.m. on Tuesday
3. The clerk will send a ballot to the voter by fax or e-mail, at the voter's choice.
4. Voters must then return the electronic ballot by fax or e-mail no later than Tuesday, Election Day, at 8 p.m.

Bridgewater, NJ
Election District Map (bridgewaterNJ.gov/maps/Election_Map.pdf)

Power Outages Cause Some Polling Places to Change - Bridgewater, NJ Patch