Crime & Safety

Not AGAIN! Power Out in Parts of Woodbridge

Town Hall is dark, the police department is on a standby generator, and lights are flickering or entirely out in Woodbridge Proper again. What gives?


As of this morning, 1,500 Woodbridge residents still hadn't gotten power back from Hurricane Sandy. That changed this afternoon, when the lights went out again in parts of the township.

This afternoon, lights starting flickering and blinking in the area around the park section of Woodbridge Proper off Amboy Avenue. Then the lights went out on Rahway Avenue, including a traffic light. Now Town Hall is dark, and the police department is back to operating on a generator.

So what's going on?

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PSE&G spokeswoman Rena Esposito said that part of the problem could be the effort to get electricity back up for small pockets of Woodbridge residents who haven't had power since Hurricane Sandy hit last week.

"Linemen have to deenergize a circuit to make it safe to fix electrical lines," she said. That means the electricity has to be turned off to some areas temporarily. The time frame could be anywhere from an hour to six hours, she said.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That may not explain what's going on with the light problem in Woodbridge Proper.

Several Woodbridge residents posting on Woodbridge Patch Facebook said that they heard loud noises before the lights went out. Captain Roy Hoppock of the Woodbridge Police said he heard that a transformer blew somewhere along the line, and that's why the electricity went out.

Esposito said she didn't know anything about a transformer blowing, or any widespread power outage in the township.

Since the power died, a nor'easter that has been threatening the area moved in more decisively with a mix of rain, wet, heavy snow, and some wind.

Esposito said that could be having an effect on power delivery to the township.

"It could be a handful of circuit lockouts. As soon as one comes in, the other goes back," she said, adding she didn't have "specific information" about Woodbridge's woes.

Before this latest round of power failures, 96 percent of Woodbridge residents had their electricity back. That's even better than the county as a whole: 24,000 Middlesex County residents still don't have power. PSE&G has restored 90 percent of electricity to the homeowners in towns throughout Middlesex.

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