School Cancelled Again, Power & Roads Still Out

The Hillsborough Public Schools will once again be closed on Thursday, the fourth straight day Hurricane Sandy's impact has shut down the district.

The district's website still says it will be open on Monday and Wednesday, which had previously been in-service days, to try to limit the impact on other holidays. The district has already exhausted its snow days due to Sandy, according to the website.

On Wednesday, Halloween was also cancelled by both the township and Gov. Chris Christie's executive order. The township had originally said more information would come on a makeup date, but its website now said it has bee pushed to Monday per the governor's order.

Many Hillsborough streets remained closed throughout Wednesday, as well. An update issued at 11:15 a.m. said most of them were still not reopened.

On Tuesday, OEM coordinator John Sheridan said roughly half the township lost electric power. Through Wednesday, no progress appeared to have been made. PSE&G's outage map showed more than 10,000 customers in the township still without power as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, and JCP&L–which serves a smaller portion of Hillsborough–showed 1,053 without power. Those numbers have remained consistent since Tuesday morning. 

A notice on the township's website said the utility companies told officials that emergency structure's would take priority in the restoration efforts. They said efforts would take days, and that they should have improved estimates in the next 24 hours.

The township will open the Auten Road facility starting Thursday through Saturday for branch collection. The times of operation will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The municipal complex and the library will be closed again on Thursday, and the shelter at the municipal complex will remain closed. The township is directing residents to the VFW shelter in Manville at 600 Washington Ave., Bernardsville High School at 25 Olcott St. in Bernardsville, and Stone Crest Community Church at 11 Technology Drive in Warren.