Community Corner

Irene: Residents May Go 3-5 Days Without Power

Priority for power restoration given to shore communities.

Chatham Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan said Monday afternoon residents without power may not see their electricity restored for three to five more days, with full restoration occurring near the end of this week.

"They're [JCP&L] working on restoring power to the shore first," Vaughan said. "They lost their power before us, and they had it much worse."

According to JCP&L, 3,599 Chatham residents are still without power as of 11:23 a.m. Monday.

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

Vaughan said Gov. Chris Christie told all municipalities to contact their respective county to report any outages, and the county is responsibe for alerting the state. He said because power outages from Hurricane Irene are a state-wide issue, he is not permitted to contact JCP&L directly.

"It's pretty grim," Vaughan said of the news that power would not be restored to the borough immediately. He said he has received telephone calls from residents without power who are elderly or have mobility issues. "These people are suffering."

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

Amy Nauta, the director of the , said the pool picked up "at least 5 inches of water" during the storm, but that overall the pool was in good shape.

Nauta said the staff turned off the filters Saturday and moved the furniture inside. The pool was closed Sunday but opened by early Monday afternoon, after cleaning out "a ton of leaves" from the main pool, treating the pool with chlorine and draining the kiddie pool, Nauta said.

"I really had a good crew here," Nauta said. "They swept the pool and got everything ready for us to open."

Kara Artiglere and her three children, Joe, 4, Morgan, 3, and Alexis, 18 months, camped in their basement overnight in their borough home when they had no electricity. "We had flashlights," Joe said.

Chief John Paton of the Chatham Township Police Department said he had not received any update on when township residents might have their power back.

Areas without power Monday include the Meyersville Road area in Chatham Township and residences east of Hillside Avenue in the borough, including and

Many residents took advantage of the sunshine Monday to walk around neighborhoods with power, including Main Street and Hickory Tree Shopping Center.

The is closed Monday, along with Dunkin' Donuts on Main Street, Chatham Township municipal offices and the School District of the Chathams.

The library and school offices, along with athletic activities, will open Tuesday.

Colony Pool is closed indefinitely.

For an update on water and flooding conditions,


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