BRICK, NJ — Tonight, the township of Brick is battling widespread power outages as high winds whip through Ocean County. Approximately 5,000 homes are currently without electricity, with numerous traffic lights out, including those at key intersections, leading to significant disruptions during this holiday weekend.
Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), operated by FirstEnergy, has confirmed the outages, which began in the early evening. Crews are on the scene, but with the weather conditions, restoration times remain uncertain.
This power crisis in Brick is not an isolated incident but rather part of a pattern that has led to heightened tensions between local government bodies and JCP&L. Ocean County officials have previously expressed their frustration by threatening legal action against FirstEnergy and JCP&L. In January, Ocean County Commissioner Frank Sadeghi floated the idea of a $1 billion lawsuit following a series of outages, highlighting the county’s chronic power issues.