Big chill leads to ‘three dog nights’ in New Jersey

Electric service is slowly being restored, but many New Jersey residents remain without power. With the weather turning colder, people are hoping the electricity comes back on soon.

In Seaview Village, an adult community in Brick Township, many of the older citizens, some of them in their 80s, have been living in homes without electricity for a week now.

One woman had a revelation about the name of a pop group from the ’60s and ’70s due to the chill.

Sonjia Salem, a Seaview Village resident, says she and her husband have been getting by with a small propane heater.

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

“We only use it just to take the chill out at night before we go to bed,” she said.

Otherwise, they’re relying on “a lot of blankets and comforters, and sleeping with the dogs, you know, a three dog night.

“I used to wonder where they got the name for that group (Three Dog Night). Well now I know, you sleep with three dogs,” Salem said. “That’s how cold the night is.”

Like many of her neighbors, Seaview Village resident Judy Murdoch is just trying to cope with it.

“At night we’re playing cards by candlelight or I have a headlamp thing and we’re reading. We’re bundling up, we’re layering, the bed is warm and we have quilts on the bed,” she said. “So we’re managing. It’s survival of the fittest.”

Another resident says he and his 88-year-old mother left home last year before Hurricane Irene but decided to stay this time.

While he never thought the power would be out this long, he says, they have enough food, are using extra blankets at night, and are doing OK.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal