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Fairfield County awakened Sunday morning to a white landscape under bright, sunny skies that revealed the damage from a historic pre-Halloween nor'easter that knocked down trees and power lines throughout the state.
"People could be without power for a week," Gov. Dannel Malloy said in an 8:30 a.m. Sunday news conference. Officials with the major power companies warned residents to be prepared for "the worst" with even more power outages statewide than after Hurricane Irene in August.
As of 9 a.m., more than 763,000 customers with Connecticut Light & Power were in the dark; United Illuminating reported more than 18,000 customers without power. Local power outages included:
Darien: 2,108 customers, or 26 percent of town
Easton: 1,216 customers, or 42 percent of town
Fairfield 3,079 customers, or 14 percent of town
Greenwich: 4,963 customers, or 17 percent of town
New Canaan: 3,578 customers, or 42 percent of town
Norwalk: 6,663 customers, or 22 percent of city
Stamford: 9,312 customers, or 16 percent of city
Weston: 3,052 customers, or 80 percent of town
Westport: 2,660 customers, or 21 percent of town
Wilton: 4,967 customers, or 68 percent of town
High temperatures in the mid-40s with sunny skies on Sunday should start to melt the snow, which was reported at a half-foot or more along the shoreline in Connecticut and increasing in the inland sections, easily topping a foot or 18 inches in some areas.
The Merritt Parkway remained closed to traffic but was set to be reopened by 11 a.m., Malloy said. Metro-North Railroad was reporting good service along the New Haven Line and its New Canaan branch. But buses were operating on the Danbury and Waterbury branches because of downed trees and local power outages.
More than 1,000 passengers were stranded overnight at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks after more than 25 flights were diverted there during the storm. Passengers on one plane were reportedly stuck on the tarmac for more than seven hours during the height of the storm. Malloy spent hours late Saturday meeting with passengers and handing out cots. "The McDonald's was open," he said.
The state of Connecticut continues to be under a state of emergency, with dangerous power lines and downed trees blocking many roads.
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