Monmouth County's electrical grid took a severe hit by Hurricane Sandy and Marlboro and Colts Neck were no exception.

As of Tuesday at 8:45 a.m., 15,270 Marlboro households out of the 15,364 Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) serves were without power, according to the company's New Jersey outage map. In Colts Neck, 3,569 of 3,959 lost electric.

According to the outage map, 84 percent of Monmouth County, or 234,817 of 280,646 customers, is without power.

Residents should anticipate lengthy delays, JCP&L warned on its Web site.

"While assessment of the damage by utility workers will be ongoing, the slow-moving nature of the storm will slow the process and hamper the conduct of restoration work. Restoration times will be updated as the severity of the storm's impact on the electrical system is determined," the statement read.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations do not allow lineworkers to go up on poles to repair damage if winds are above 40 mph, which weather forecasts predict they will be Tuesday.