Wildwood power outage extends past 24 hours, frustrating vacationers and businesses

NORTH WILDWOOD, New Jersey (WPVI) — Thousands of homeowners and businesses in a New Jersey shore town were without power for more than 24 hours as of Saturday, affecting both vacationers and people’s livelihoods.

“I’ve never seen it like this. It’s amazing,” said Tim Myers from Mayfair.

On one of the hottest days so far in the summer of 2023 in North Wildwood, families struggled to find solace from the heat and worried about the impact on their vacation.

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“We’ve been trying to hit a bar, can’t find anything open. Captain Jack’s is closed. It’s a downer,” said James Harper from Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

“We don’t want to overload the system as customers are using a lot of power on hot days like this,” said Frank Tedesco, a spokesperson for Atlantic City Electric.

The company said crews worked around the clock to repair the power after a fire at the Lake Avenue Substation on Friday resulted in an outage affecting 24,000 people.

As of 5 a.m. Saturday, the power was back on for approximately 16,200 customers.

Officials said they expected to have 80% of all customers restored by 6:30 p.m. Saturday and all customers are to receive power by 9 p.m.

Despite working round the clock, officials say the fix is complicated.

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Tedesco said crews are working to get it fixed as “quickly and safely as possible. We’re also installing temporary equipment until permanent equipment is fixed at the substation.”

On Saturday afternoon, more than 8,000 customers like Eileen Garton were still without power.

“Terrible. Absolutely terrible. It was so hot,” she said.

She and her husband cooled off and charged their phones at the North Wildwood Community Center.

“We’ve had people in here that are on oxygen and need to charge up their oxygen. We had a lot of people last night doing that,” said Ann Devlin, an administrative assistant at the center.

Perhaps the coolest place to go on the island was the beach itself. Patrons packed the sand looking for relief in the ocean breeze.

“We came back here and it was hot but it was manageable. We came here to sit in the ocean and be cool,” said Melissa Dobley from Elkins Park.