More than 20,000 people are in the dark on Sunday night after a power outage was reported in a large portion of Ocean County.

According to JCP&L, as of 6 p.m. on Sunday the outage is affecting around 24,000 customers. The outage is affecting homes and businesses as well as traffic lights in the central part of the county.

Scott Takac, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, JCP&L's parent company said the cause of the outage is a downed transmission line in the area of Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. Takac said crews are working to isolate the high voltage line and make it safe at this time.

Once the line is secured Takac said the utility will start restoring power in sections.

"The section restored will depend on what individual circuit the customers are on," he said.

All customers are expected to be back online by 8:10 p.m. according to Takac.

The Ocean County Sheriff's Department said in an alert that authorities are aware of the outage and discouraged people from calling 911 unless it is for an emergency.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com

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