Halloween's Snow Cripples New Jersey

Even without power, the Mayor of Madison, New Jersey was able to use Facebook to keep the residents updated following this weekend’s storm.

The Halloween weekend snowstorm smacked northern New Jersey, leaving entire towns without power. Summit, Chatham, and Madison all have gone days without power, causing the cancellation of schools, and forcing the towns to postpone the trick-or-treating for Halloween.

Madison’s Mayor, Mary-Anna Holden has been very critical of the Jersey City Power & Lighting company, claiming that she was “lied” to about when power would be restored. In an interview with the Independent Press, Holden was quoted as saying that the delay has “cost Madison 170 thousand dollars in revenue”. She then later retreated to Facebook, posting on her Facebook page:

“JCP&L still clueless. About 11:30 p.m. last night they told us we were a priority. Hah! Public works and electric department are freeing roads and downed lines along with the fire dept., and keeping water and sewer pumps running manually on generators. Nasty work. Drove every street with the Supt. Of public Works to inventory damage.”

Chatham has already cancelled school for the whole week as they struggle to reconnect power throughout the entire school district. Madison closed schools on Monday and Tuesday, but with the power being re-established in some places throughout Madison, there is hope that there will be school some point this week. Local colleges in Madison have also closed, as Drew University has had to shuttle students off-campus to neighboring colleges after the entire campus lost power.

“The storm knocked out the entire town, it has been like a zombie movie or something,” Madison business owner Frank Iannarone said. Iannarone runs the Madison Pharmacy at 66 Main St., and because of the demand from local nursing homes and needy elderly customers, they were forced to open the store and operate without power. “People needed their drugs, and they couldn’t wait just because we don’t have power,” Iannarone said, “It has certainly made for an interesting time, but we will figure it all out. The importance was getting the drugs.”