Wildwood, NJ outage: Families, visitors on the Boardwalk take the power outage in stride
WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) -- Atlantic City Electric says it's making progress in restoring power in Wildwood Saturday. They say by 6:30 p.m., 80% of homes and businesses will be back online with everyone getting power back by 9 p.m.
It can't come soon enough for some people.
Atlantic City Electric officials released a statement Saturday night stating more than 80% of customers have their power restored.
"Atlantic City Electric crews are continuing their work to restore service for all customers impacted by the fire at the company's Lake Avenue substation in Wildwood, yesterday. Crews have worked around the clock making repairs and installing temporary equipment and have restored more than 80 percent of all customers. Based on the work that remains to restore service, all remaining customers can expect to be restored later this evening or overnight. Crews are continuing to focus on very complex outages, including installing temporary equipment around the island and at the substation to restore all remaining customers safely and as quickly as possible. We are continuing to communicate with our customers regarding their estimated restoration times, and customers can always check our outage map or log into their account online or on our mobile app for the latest estimated restoration time for their outage. We know this has been a challenging event for our customers and those visiting the area on vacation, and we are working safely and as quickly as possible to restore service. We appreciate the continued patience as we work to restore their service."
At Kohr Bros on the Wildwood Boardwalk, Manager Nick Deritis is losing business. The ice cream machines, cash registers, fans and monitors displaying the menu have been down for more than 24 hours due to the power outage.
"It's a pretty big hit especially because it happened on the weekend," Deritis said. "Friday, Saturday are two of our busiest days."
It was Friday around noon when a fire broke out at Atlantic City Electric's substation on Oak Avenue knocking out power.
At Morey's Piers, 100 rides and attractions were shut down.
"We are disappointing, unfortunately, families who are here on their vacation but we're doing everything that we can to be as ready to go as possible once power is restored," Denise Beckson, VP of Human Resources and Government Relations at Morey's Piers & Beachfront Water Parks, said.
Some businesses are able to stay open through the power outage. At La Cava's Pizzeria & Grill, they're cooking food using gas but it's cash only because the credit card machines are down.
"It's been very hard but very nice to see everyone you know, work together to try to get through it," manager Graciela La Cava said. "This is something we can't expect just try to ride it out and do the best that we can."
Alexis and James Anest from North Jersey are visiting Wildwood with their 16-month-old son. They said their hotel gave them flashlights because it was dark and the elevator was down.
"When we got back to the hotel, we're kind of bummed because we realized we had to walk up to the 6th floor," Alexis Anest said. "We have a baby, so it was a lot to you know, kind of maneuver."
"We've had a great time, even with the power outage," James Anest said.
Many folks on the Boardwalk are taking the outage in stride.
Meanwhile, businesses are standing by, ready to serve customers as soon as the power comes back.
