Saturday Hurricane Sandy Update

The warming center at the John Witherspoon Middle School opened last night.The center now has Wifi.

PSE&G crews worked overnight to restore power to Princeton area neighborhoods. Power was restored to several areas last night, including the Princeton Shopping Center area, the Riverside area, and Bunn Drive. Our very rough estimate from looking at PSE&G outage maps and which neighborhoods have been restored is that the power has been restored to about 65-70 percent of Princeton residents. Several neighborhoods in Montgomery also had power restored last night. We will try to get details on the latest figure today.

Witherspoon Street is blocked off at Paul Robeson Place while PSE&G workers conduct major repairs of power lines there. The storm ripped out some of the poles at the based and the poles need to be replaced. Estimates Friday were that the work could take up to three days. The line is a key power line feeding power to part  of the John Witherspoon neighborhood, part of the western section of town, Borough Hall, Town Hall and the fire department.

The two Princetons set up a warming center at the John Witherspoon Middle School on Walnut Lane last night. The center opened at 6 and will remain open until at least 6 a.m. Monday. The center is heated and has refreshments, including coffee. You can charge your electronic devices and Wifi is now available. You can also take a shower at the school. Last night the showers were the most popular attraction. The center has air mattresses for people who need to sleep there. The warming centers at the Friend Center at Princeton University and the Princeton Township municipal building on Witherspoon Street are closed. Trinity Church on Mercer Street and the Princeton United Methodist Church on Nassau Street are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Montgomery Community Center is open for Montgomery residents who need a place to warm up. Lawrence High is also open and showers are available.

New Jersey Transit is operating on a special schedule from Trenton to New York until further notice. The Dinky is not in operation, but Princeton University’s Tiger Transit shuttles are making the trip to and from Princeton Junction to meet each train. The pick up point in Princeton is at the Dinky station. The shuttle is free of charge and is open to the public. NJ Transit buses are running on a Saturday schedule. Coach/Suburban Transit is operating on a weekend schedule.  SEPTA is operating on a normal schedule.

Most businesses in downtown Princeton were open Friday. We will no longer be listing the ones we know of because the list is so long and few still remain closed. Now that power is back at the Princeton Shopping Center, businesses that have been closed are reopening today. Dunkin Donuts opened this morning and Main Street Bistro will be open for lunch.

We will post a listing of school openings for Monday as soon as information is available. The Pennington School and the Lawrenceville School have both confirmed that they will hold classes Monday. All of the public schools in Mercer County will hold classes on Nov. 8 and 9 now that the NJEA teachers’s convention has been canceled.

The 9 a.m. Princeton Future meeting at the Princeton Public Library is still a go this morning. The library is open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. today. The International Game Day scheduled for today has been canceled.

McCarter Theatre’s programs, including The Select, will go on as scheduled.

Starting today at noon Infini-T Cafe at 4 Hulfish St and Nassau Barbers at 68 Chamber Street will serve as drop off locations for non-perishable food, medical supplies, toiletries and blankets  as part of Occupy Sandy Relief. The collection will be ongoing.

A reminder that the Princeton Half Marathon scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. The new date has not been set yet. The New York City Marathon has also been canceled.

 

If you know of  something that should be added to the list, please let us know by emailing editor@planetprinceton.com.

3 Comments

  1. Not all of Riverside. They forgot to give power to Adams Dr which is still in the dark and freezing.

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