Sandy Fails to Foil Halloween

She took down trees and left as much as 30 percent of the town in the dark, but on thing Hurricane Sandy couldn't do was ruin Halloween.

The spooky holiday went on as usual despite about a tenth of the town remaining in the dark and more than a dozen roads closed due to the debris left from the storm. 

Early in the evening young trick-or-treaters could be seen carefully canvassing neighborhoods, usually with Mom or Dad close by keeping a watchful eye on the happenings.

"I was a bit nervous to let them go out," said Marissa Ryan, who was out with son Brice, 3, and daughter Sophia, 4. They had been excited for weeks for Halloween, she said, so she hated to let the storm spoil their fun.

"We're not going far," she said, "just enough for them to get a taste of it and then we're going home. Hopefully next year will be better."

For mom Kendra Reeves, 27, her kid's Halloween consisted of buying a Happy Meal at McDonalds.

"No power in our neighborhood -- they're not walking around there," she said as her kids sat in McDonalds eating their cheeseburgers. "This is just as good -- I never let them eat here so this is a treat for them."

She had some harsher words for United Illuminating.

"It's been two days, and I haven't seen any sign of a truck or anyone anywhere," she said. And driving around the area of Still Hill Road where she lives, she sees much of the rest of the area with power.

"Have they forgotten about us?" she asked. "Or are we just inconsequential because there's only a few of us?"

Town officials have said that UI officials needed to take Tuesday and Wednesday to assess the situation but should have a plan of action ready by Thurday. 

But by Wednesday, the number of residents out of power had dropped to 2,629, down from a high of more than 8,000.

"UI Reports that is has restored power to approximately 3,000 residents at this time," town officials said Wednesday. "In addition, currently, UI has four Line Crews, three Tree Crews and two "Make Safe" Crews working in the town of Hamden.

"They are hopeful that with the focused work they are doing, that Hamden could see the restoration of another 2500 locations up by late tonight," they said.

The town closed down its emergency shelter Wednesday after no one showed up to use the facility Tuesday night. Monday night during the storm 11 people took advantage of the cots and hospitality offered by Hamden's CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) at Hamden High School.

But Tuesday night the team stayed at the school alone as no one felt the need to utilize the emergency shelter, so the decision was made not to open it Wednesday and instead recommend residents use other area shelters instead.

School was cancelled again Thursday, the fourth day this week.