North Caldwell Loses Power in Nor'Easter

After Winter Storm Athena, PSE&G is once again working to restore power to North Caldwell.

Although power went back down just as the nor'easter hit, police do not think the new storm caused the power outage.

“It was thought that the problem was on Smull (Avenue) but that was only part of the problem,” said North Caldwell Police Chief Mark Deuer. “Initially we thought it would be a quick fix, but the electrical system has been compromised by the hurricane and the problem may be more complex than we thought.”

Township officials have been on phone calls with PSE&G all day, he said. Public service crews are out working as hard as they can, he said.

“Yesterday I was able to report that virtually all the power in North Caldwell was restored,” said Mayor Joseph Alessi in an email to residents on Wednesday. “Then this afternoon sections of town went out. We immediately contacted our PSE&G representatives and they responded.”

Early reports the power would return by midnight may have been premature, police said.

“We were told by Public Service that power would be restored by midnight and we were optimistic, said Deuer. “Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.”

There is no estimate as to when power will finally return, but PSE&G crews are currently working on it, Deuer said Thursday morning.