100 Still Without Power Friday Morning

More than 100 residents and businesses in town are still without power Friday morning, nearly a full week after Hurricane Irene knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands.

Jersey Central Power & Light is reporting at 8:45 a.m. that 130 Wall Township residents and businesses are still without power, and about 5,500 in Monmouth County overall.

The number of Wall residents without power may be higher, however. Reporting is muddled since the township uses multiple zip codes from neighboring towns, making it difficult to tell which residents in which towns are actually affected.

Power is expected to be restored to the majority of JCP&L customers by the weekend with full service expected by early next week, company officials have said.

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And will be open until 7 p.m. through for the fifth day today. Residents without power can charge their electronic devices, watch television and hang out.

Janet Trotter, branch manager, said the prolonged power outage has brought residents to the library in droves to pick up reading material, charge electronics and use the public internet or wireless connections.

“The Wall Library brought people together with their neighbors who were also going through this tough time,” Trotter said. “I believe it helped the community to know we were able to be here when they needed us.”