Over 2,000 Chathamites Still Without Power

Chatham Township and Borough Mayors Nicole Hagner and Nelson Vaughan said certain "pockets" of town, in Hagner's words, remain without power Tuesday.

According to JCP&L, 2,335 Chatham customers and 163 customers in Green Village (which includes parts of Chatham, Madison and Harding) are still without power as of 12:47 p.m. Tuesday,

"We still have quite a bit of people in town without power," Hagner said.

Affected areas include River Road, which is still blocked with a large tree with power wires down in the roadway, and Hillside Avenue.

in Chatham Borough is offering 20 percent off of family style meals this week. Kings Super Markets in Morristown and Florham Park are giving away free water and ice to JCP&L customers who still do not have power.

Gov. Chris Christie said he would keep "my type of gentle pressure" on the heads of New Jersey utility companies until electricity has been restored to all residents.

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."