UPDATE: Township Opens Warming Center

Chatham residents can warm up at the Chatham Emergency Squad building at 45 Spring St., which will be available for residents as a heating center and to charge electronics. Police will also be available to discuss any emergency assistance needed.

Chatham schools will be closed for a second straight day Tuesday as the borough and township continue to "get back to normal."

Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan signed an order lifting the state of emergency Monday shortly after 2 p.m.

"We're trying to get back to normal here," he said.

With the state of emergency lifted, parking is now permitted on borough streets again.

Ohio Edison crews were on the scene in Chatham Monday morning as more than 6,500 residents woke up to what was, for many, their third day without power.

Township Mayor Nicole Hagner said she is "keeping the pressure up" on JCP&L to bring relief to some of the town's hardest-hit neighborhoods, including Green Village.

The Tanglewood Recycling Center will not open Monday, but Hagner said it will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for residents to bring fallen branches and other debris from the early winter storm.

Chatham Borough released a list of streets with priority problems, including hanging wires and trees blocking the roadways. The top priorities over the weekend were the , which had problems with its backup generator, and the water pumps for the borough's internal water system.

"We got those back up and running," Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan said, and now he is trying to get crews in to get the rest of Chatham's power restored. Curbside brush pickup will commence on Monday, Nov. 7.

Vaughan said JCP&L representatives told him there are 6,384 connections out in Chatham Borough and Chatham Township as of noon Monday, and that the utility company expects to have restored power to 5,171 connections by the end of the day. "I'm not sure I believe that," he said.

Vaughan said he has been in contact with the governor's office about the power outages. "Right now still many of the streets look like a tornado has gone through. Almost every street is blocked."

Chatham Township Police released a Nixle alert Monday at 2 p.m. saying JCP&L crews are in town working on restoring the power. The alert did not give an estimated time for power to be reconnected.

"We are hopeful to start having some electricity restore[d] by tomorrow," Hagner said via email Monday.

Outside of the , crews are working on clearing a large tree branch with power lines, which fell onto a truck over the weekend. Passing vehicles have been diverted into the Fairmount Country Store parking lot for safety.

"Most interior roads have significant debris," Hagner said via email. She also said she expects River Road and Fairmount Avenue to be clear by Monday evening.

The Chatham Borough Police and Department of Public Works assembled a list of priorities for cleanup and safety. The list includes the following:

• Amherst Road: hanging second power lines
• Center Avenue: very low-hanging power and branches, a power line across the roadway
• Chatham Street west of Lafayette Avenue: low hanging power lines and branches
• Coleman Avenue: very low hanging power lines, branches down, power line down in the road
• Dellwood Avenue: power and cable lines in the roadway
• Edgewood Road at Lafayette Avenue: one lane closed
• Elmwood Avenue: very low hanging power lines and branches down
• Fairfax Terrace at Edgewood Road: Low hanging power lines
• Fairmount Avenue: Low hanging power and communication lines, primary wires tangled in large tree limbs (labeled very dangerous and a high priority)
• Highland Avenue: tree, large branches and power lines down and in the roadway
• Hillside Avenue: power lines and tree hanging, partially and fully blocking the road at different spots (labeled very series and a high priority)
• Inwood Road: secondary power line across the road
• Jackson Avenue: tree across the roadway with power lines down and hanging low
• Lincoln Avenue: low branch in roadway, and road closed by fallen tree and power lines down in spots
• North Passaic Avenue: power lines and tree branches in roadway.
• Philman Place: low hanging power lines
• Red Road: low hanging power lines
• Rowan Road: power lines and branches in the road
• Somerset Avenue: tree in the roadway
• Washington Avenue: road blocked by communication wire and cable in two spots; branches and power lines blocking the road; branches, secondary power and cable wires down in two spots
• Watchung Avenue at Lafayette Avenue: low power lines and branches
• Weston Avenue at North Passaic Avenue: tree down across the roadway, traffic confined to 1 lane
• Weston Avenue: cable and Verizon wires down, power lines down across roadway, low hanging power lines, power lines down across the roadway at 2 spots
• Woodland Road: Power lines down.

Warming centers are available in Madison at the Public Safety Building on Kings Road, and at Summit Middle School.

Chatham Patch will provide more information as it becomes available.