Gov. Chris Christie lost power to his Mendham home about 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon and, like the half-million other residents in the state without power, was waiting at home for the utilities to come back on.
The storm spurred Christie to declare a statewide state of emergency Saturday night. He expects the number of outages to grow as the snow tapers off and winds pick up, blowing heavy branches with leaves still on them to break.
Christie said the storm arrived sooner and hit harder than expected, with northern counties possibly seeing up to 14 inches, but that the state was prepared.
The governor said there were 25 fully closed roads in the state and another 60 partial closures.