When will the power come back in NJ, NYC, Long Island? It could be hours to days.

Tens of thousands of New York and New Jersey residents remained without power Monday afternoon following a massive blizzard — with some utility companies’ overall number of customers without service growing as they day went on.

It was unclear when all power would be restored as crews worked in overdrive to bring back service. Some customers have already gotten their electricity back, while others may need to wait until Tuesday or later, according to estimates from the utilities.

New Jersey has been hit the hardest so far. More than 73,000 Jersey Central Power and Light customers had no electricity in North and Central Jersey as of around 2 p.m, the utility reported. That number had grown throughout the day.

The bulk of JCP&L outages were along the Jersey Shore in Monmouth and Ocean counties. The utility has fewer customers in Burlington County, but nearly a third of the 15,000 people it serves there were without power as of about 2 p.m. as well.

Chris Hoenig, a spokesperson for the utility, said its outage numbers have been fluctuating but JCP&L workers were able to restore power to 30,000 customers between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. alone.

Most of JCP&L’s outages were related to strong winds and downed trees, Hoenig added. The National Weather Service has observed wind gusts upward of 60 mph along the coast.

About 2,800 PSE&G customers were without power across the state at around 2 p.m. PSE&G has restored power to tens of thousands of customers since early Sunday, utility spokesperson Marijke Shugrue said. The bulk of PSE&G’s New Jersey outages were in the southern part of the state.

In South Jersey, roughly 58,000 Atlantic City Electric customers were experiencing outages as of around 2 p.m. That number had also grown slightly since a few hours earlier.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said about 5,000 utility workers were on the ground to respond to outages. She said many local companies recruited workers from out of state to help with the effects of the snow.

“With the heavy, wet snow and winds we were expecting, we knew we’d have some power outages,” she said on WNYC’s “Morning Edition” early Monday. “Unfortunately, that’s been the case.”

Later Monday morning on NBC4, Sherrill said many residents were still without power, “but we have seen a lot of incredible work by those utility workers restoring over 130,000 people back to power.”

In New York, Long Island and the Rockaways were experiencing the most outages.
More than 12,000 PSEG Long Island customers were without power after the heavy wind and snow as of around 2 p.m. A spokesperson for PSEG said early Monday the company had restored power to more than 15,000 customers since mid-day Sunday.

New York City has opened several warming centers for residents in the Rockaways who have no electricity, New York City Emergency Management said. People without power can stay warm at Far Rockaway High School, Beach Channel High School or P.S. 43.
About 3,700 Con Edison customers were without electricity across the five boroughs and Westchester County as of around 2pm.

Con Ed spokesperson Elisabeth Ferrari said the main causes of the New York City outages were the winds and road salt mixing with melting snow. She said the utility has hired outside workers to help maintain electricity during the extreme weather.

Ferrari also urged the public to stay away from downed wires and report them to Con Ed or 911. Customers can report outages at conEd.com or by calling 1-800-752-6633.
About 135 Central Hudson customers and around 250 Orange and Rockland Utilities customers had no power as of around 2 p.m., according to the utilities’ outage maps.

Orange and Rockland crews are on standby and assessing cases as they arise, spokesperson Vito Signorile said. He said wind toppling trees onto power lines has caused most of the company’s outages.

Central Hudson spokesperson Joe Jenkins said workers were responding to outages as they are reported. He said the company is closely monitoring conditions and will handle outages throughout the day as safely and efficiently as possible.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct a date reference in its headline. This story has also been updated with new information.