A Week Later, Irene Lingers Over Labor Day Weekend

The Livingston residents boiling their drinking water will still need to do so for at least part of the Labor Day weekend.

While the advisory has been lifted in parts of neighboring towns, Livingston is waiting for verification from New Jersey American Water Co., Mayor Rudy Fernandez said on Friday night. Once lifted, Livingston will need an additional 24 hours to test the water in the township’s distribution system.

The water situation affecting about 100 streets in Livingston, mostly those bordering Millburn and West Orange, is among the lingering problems from last weekend’s storm.

A handful of homes are without power and residents are assessing the damage to flooded basements and their belongings.

After a week cleaning up from Irene, the long holiday weekend is a welcome relief.

At the Jersey Shore, the governor talked on Friday about how the state has made great strides in getting the .

"If you can afford to come down here this weekend, come, take a deep breath and enjoy the last beautiful weekend of summer and support the local businesses," he said.

Then a television reporter told him his "Go Back to the Shore" message was way too subtle.

"I've rarely been accused of being subtle," Christie said. And he knew a cue when it was handed to him.

"So I guess you want me to say, 'Get the hell back on the beach!' "

A week ago, waiting for Hurricane Irene, Christie was urging everyone off and away from the coast. The worse damage happened inland, with unprecedented flooding. The state was declared a federal disaster and on Sunday to visit storm areas.

The storm also cause widespread power outages. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irene there were 850,000 electric utility customers without power throughout the state, now reduced to about 40,000, Christie said.

In Livingston, the numbers were down to 12 JCP&L customers on Friday night. “I’ve never encountered anything like this before in my life,” said Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex, of the dozens of phone calls he received from constituents asking for help and information on when power might be restored.

Lisa Becker of Livingston was among those who called when frustrations grew over the lack of action by the utilities to repair a transformer dangling in her Chestnut Hill neighborhood street three days after Irene struck.

Without power, she was unable to begin pumping out the water in the basement, despite flagging down a contractor who drove overnight from Chicago knowing there would be work. Neighbors feared for safety because of the transformer’s precarious position.

“I was stunned when he called,” she said of the response by the former governor. “That night we had power. It was amazing.”

Residents in Millburn and Short Hills were hard hit by the outages and township officials are so frustrated by its dealings, or lack thereof, with Jersey Central Power & Light, that into the company's "gross mismanagement and lack of communication and coordination efforts to restore power during Hurricane Irene."

When asked on Friday what he thought about JCP&L's job performance in Irene's aftermath, Christie said, "The state Board of Public Utilities is going to do a full investigation of all utilities, but I think particular attention will be focused on JCP&L."

When asked if he is doing anything now to compel JCP&L to help those still without power faster and more efficiently, he said, "Oh, we're all over the JCP&L folks. I told them I want this done by tonight at midnight or someone is going to have to answer for that."

The storm caused billions in damage and lost of life -- 12 deaths statewide are attributed to the hurricane, Christie said. The original number of 15,000 residents in shelters has been reduced to 450.

Residents whose property was damaged in the storm can call FEMA about filing a claim at 1-800-621-FEMA.