Almost 2 million storm victims still without electricity

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"From what we’ve seen, Con Ed is doing as much work as they possibly can safely," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, said at a Nov. 2 press conference. "They didn’t expect, and I don’t think anyone else did either, a surge this high."

Bloomberg’s patience did not extend to the Rockaways portion of Queens, where fire destroyed 111 homes in Breezy Point at the height of the storm. Unlike most of New York City, which gets its power from Con Edison, the Rockaway peninsula is served by the Long Island Power Authority.

LIPA’s assessment that it may take two weeks to restore power to the Rockaways is "unacceptable," Bloomberg said.

New Jersey

Flooding forced Con Edison to pre-emptively cut power to large swaths of New York for the first time in its history, ripped out chunks of Atlantic City’s famed boardwalk and submerged coastal communities in New Jersey.

FirstEnergy Corp.’s Jersey Central Power & Light, which served many of the shoreline communities battered by the storm, said Nov. 2 that the majority of the utility’s 1.1 million customers would have power back by Nov. 7. Those in hardest-hit areas would have to wait as long as 14 days for electricity, while the rest would regain service "once damaged roads, infrastructure and homes are rebuilt."

Jersey Central reported 464,769 of the more than 1 million customers who lost power are still without it as of 11:11 a.m. local time today. Public Service, which also serves New Jersey, had 493,000 customers still without power as of a 10 a.m. statement today. The utility said "virtually all" of those who had lost power would be back online within the next week to 10 days.

Northeast Utilities, owner of Connecticut Light & Power, estimates most of its customers will have electricity back by Nov. 6, said Frank Poirot, a spokesman for the company. UIL Holdings Corp.’s United Illuminating will restore electricity to 95 percent of its customers by the end of tomorrow, according to a statement.

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