Mayor: Borough ‘Handcuffed’ by PSE&G, Fort Lee High School Dismissed Early

Schools in Fort Lee opened as scheduled Monday morning in spite of the damage done by the unexpectedly early snowstorm over the weekend, but Fort Lee High School was forced to close early, with PSE&G reporting that as many as 5,000 customers in the borough may still be without power as of Monday afternoon.

Students at Fort Lee High School were dismissed early because power went out at about 9 a.m., school officials said; other schools reported power outages as well, including the Early Childhood Center and School No. 1.

But school officials also said Monday afternoon that no other schools were likely to close early.

The decision not to close schools in Fort Lee, in spite of many other towns in the area doing so as early as Sunday evening, fell to outgoing Superintendent Raymond Bandlow, whose last day working for the district was Monday.

Meanwhile, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said Monday afternoon that the borough had done everything it could in the aftermath of the storm and was to some extent at the mercy of PSE&G.

“Anything and everything that was even remotely in the control of Fort Lee is being or has already been addressed,” Sokolich said, citing removal of obstructions from roadways, clearance of trees and other debris and pumping out basements and places of business as examples.

Sokolich added that crews worked all night “to make sure that our end—the stuff we can do—is addressed in record fashion.”

“The problem is we’re handcuffed because we’re either waiting for PSE&G to render an area safe so that we can work on it, or alternatively, to restore power,” Sokolich said. “As soon as PSE&G does whatever it is that they have to do, we’ll jump on it, but unfortunately, we’re held hostage to a certain extent.”

But he also said in spite of that, “We’re not cancelling Halloween; we’re just asking everyone to be extra vigilant.”

“Absolutely, go trick-or-treating; enjoy,” Sokolich said. “We just ask all the adults and chaperones to be extra cautious, extra vigilant, stay in groups, stay on clear paths, avoid downed trees and, under all circumstances, avoid downed power lines. For the most part, none of them are live, but we can never, ever take that chance. As it gets darker, it becomes more of a dangerous climate.”

Sokolich said extra police patrols would be out Monday night—as they always are on Halloween—“but especially under these circumstances.”

PSE&G’s latest estimate of power outages in Fort Lee has fluctuated since early Monday morning, starting with 501 to 2,000, later peaking at as many as 10,000 and ultimately settling at 2,001 to 5,000 by Monday afternoon, according to the utility's outage map, after the storm left heavy snow on trees that still had leaves on them, and high winds brought down whole trees and many limbs, sometimes into power lines.

“The company continues to evaluate expected restoration times based on the extent of damage in specific towns and neighborhoods,” PSE&G said in a statement.

PSE&G also said it “expects” to be able to restore power to 95 percent of its customers “by midnight Wednesday.”

The utility also issued the following statement regarding “Halloween Safety” Monday:

“There are many downed wires in parts of our service territory.  If parents permit children to trick or treat today, they should exercise extreme caution, supervise the children, and allow them to be out only during daylight hours.”

Sokolich couldn’t offer a total count on how many people were actually without power in the borough, but he said residents in need of shelter would be accommodated, and that all buildings that still have no power would be “subjected to a fire watch.”

“Our guys are going to be personally going from floor, to floor, to floor, to make sure that there are no unsafe conditions,” he said.