Gloucester County Residents Still Without Power
Shutterstock.com
All across Gloucester County, power is still out from last Tuesday’s massive thunderstorm. And Gloucester County’s local politicians are angered by the lack of help coming from the state.
According to CBS Philly and NBC Philadelphia, 4,400 customers of Atlantic City Electric remain without power almost an entire week after the large storm that swept across Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Mayor George Shivery of Greenwich Township called upon Governor Chris Christie to declare a state of emergency for the area and help out with the restoration efforts. Meanwhile, Atlantic City Electric, for their part, has pledged that 99 percent of customers will get power back.
“We share our customers’ frustration that additional poor weather has prevented us from getting power back on as quickly as we had expected for those final customers,” Atlantic City Electric regional vice president Susan Coan told NBC. “We are working as quickly and safely as possible, and we won’t slow that pace until service is restored to the last customer.”
As of late Sunday night, NBC Philadelphia reported, over 9,000 residences in Gloucester and Camden counties were without power. AC Electric enlisted the help of 155 additional workers on Saturday, but rainy weather didn’t help the cause. A total of 1,600 workers helped remove downed electric wires and damaged trees on Sunday.
But Shivery first put Christie on full blast, saying of the governor: “As a fellow Republican I have been good to him from day one. As a community, this township has been good to him. The governor repaid us by forgetting us in our time of need.”
Shivery also remarked, “It’s time Governor Christie paid attention to New Jersey’s west coast.”
Christie told the network that he could seek federal help after the total damage is assessed. Mayor Shivery told NJ.com that, between Greenwich and nearby East Greenwich Township — the two areas hardest-hit by the storm — there could be $7.5 million in damage.
