Millions of people are still out of power following Saturday's east coast snow storm that swept the Northeast, leaving more people in the dark than Hurricane Irene.
A blizzard of snow hit hard on Oct.29, breaking records for timing and velocity as it blasted from West Virginia to Maine. The storm tore down trees and power lines, at its peak leaving three million people out of power in Hartford, Conn., according to Bloomberg.
The storm that caused 12 deaths on its path has left over two million houses stillout of power, two days after it hit.
Damage is widespread, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said at a news conference on Monday in Hartford. We're talking about long-term loss of energy for up to a week in a large swath of the state.
Despite utility companies warning of the long clean-up process, United Illuminating has told its customers that all services will be restored by Monday evening.
Hundreds of state roads have been closed in Connecticut, due to fallen trees and power lines. Many schools were closed on Monday due to the obstruction on the roads. While many children were delighted by the news at first, they quickly became disheartened after officials warned parents to keep children from trick-or-treating after dark.
In Worcester, Mass., the city asked parents, schools and neighbors to postpone Halloween celebrations until Thursday, when the weather was expected to be warmer and downed trees and power lines would likely be cleared, Reuters reported.
Around 156,000 customers have been restored with service, according to Jeffery Butler, COO of COO of Connecticut Light & Power. The main problem remains the 18 transmission lines that have been damaged and need to be energized to restore power to substations, which was not an issue during Irene, he said.
New York City received 2.9 inches, the biggest October snowfall since records were first kept in 1869, according to the National Weather Service. Before yesterday, the city hadn't received as much as an inch during October since the 19th century, Bloomberg reported.