[10:45 p.m. Update] Fall Snowstorm '11: The Morning After

10:45 p.m. update:

Vinal Tech has no school on Monday.

East Hampton has 5,038 (82 percent) customers without power and Portland has 3,269 (71 percent).

9:10 p.m. update:

Portland and East Hampton public schools will be closed on Monday. So too will Xavier, Mercy and Middlesex Community College. No word on Vinal Tech.

All town offices in Portland also will be closed on Monday, as will the Middletown Courthouse.

For those planning on using the Portland High School as a shelter, you are asked to bring toiletries and bedding.

As of 9 p.m., East Hampton has 5,821 (95 percent) power outages and Portland 3,270 (71 percent). CL&P says that crews from outside the state should begin arriving Sunday night. CL&P also said snow and ice damaged 44 transmission lines, including 21 that resulted in substations losing power.

The Connecticut Congressional delegation on Sunday released a statement in support of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s request to President Barack Obama for a federal emergency declaration in the wake of the storm. Members of the delegation have been in touch with the White House.

6:50 update:

East Hampton residents in need of shelter are welcome at the shelters at Bacon Academy in Colchester and Portland High School. There is no shelter in East Hampton.

Also, during his 6 p.m. press conference, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that he is leaving it up to each municipality as to whether to postpone trick or treating on Halloween.

6 p.m. update:

CL&P crews are on the scene in Portland and seem to be making some progress as traffic lights at Route 66 and High Street and Route 66 and Main Street are back in operation.

Several businesses also appear to have at least some power in the central area.

Signals are working again on Main Street as far as the post office. Problems continue east of that point.

According to the CL&P web site, 5,891 (96 percent) are without power in East Hampton as of 6 p.m. and 3,095 in Portland (67 percent). These numbers have been changing throughout the day.

4:30 p.m. update:

Portland has activated a shelter at the high school. Hot showers will be available from 4 to 7 p.m. and residents are welcome to stay the night. Residents may also use the school to recharge their phones and other electronics.

First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield, who opened the town's Emergency Operations Center earlier, said she has been in touch with CL&P.

"They're telling me the priority is to open up our roads," Bransfield said Sunday afternoon. "We have wires down, we have trees down in the streets and we've got to open up our roads. No restoration at this point. If people need to come to a safe place, this is it."

Bransfield said power is not expected back for a long time and expects that school will be canceled on Monday.

The shelter, or warming center as Bransfield preferred to call it, is being staffed by members of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers.

"Right now, part of the consideration is if we're going to call the Red Cross and ask for there assistance," said Ron Lee, assistant emergency management director for Portland CERT. "That's something that our first selectwoman will make that decision, if she needs to call and ask for additional resources."

Portland was hit hard by the storm, with many of its businesses closed due to power outages and 93 percent (4,257) of CL&P customers without power overall as of 4:30 p.m. East Hampton has 62 percent (3,780) without power.

Also, Route 66 remained blocked by a downed tree late Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, there is a quick detour, though it is a muddy one.

The three cross country championships (Girls S, Boys SS and Girls SS) which
could not be completed Saturday have been postponed to TBA. They had originally been rescheduled for Monday.

An update on the status of those events, and of the state open which is
currently scheduled for Friday, will be issued on Tuesday by the CIAC, after the condition of the course, school closings, the power and travel situation, and all other factors involved can be properly assessed.

Original story:

Though the heaviest amounts of snow was left for the western and northern parts of Connecticut, Saturday’s storm left its mark on East Hampton and Portland as well.

Trees and branches are down in both towns with major roads such as Route 16 in East Hampton narrowed and Route 66 in Portland, near Gifts From The Heart, completely blocked. As of 10:30 p.m., 4,255 customers were without power in Portland and 3,410 in East Hampton. Traffic on major roads throughout the rest of the towns was moving fine, as the roads have been plowed and the sun was helping melt what remained on the roads and trees.

However, other branches and trees are down in yards, leaving residents to clean up after Hurricane Irene brought similar damage to the area.

Among the trees destroyed in East Hampton, was the one in the Village Center used to tie yellow ribbons to acknowledge local military members serving overseas. Ceremonies to put ribbons on the tree were first held May 31 and as recently as Oct. 1. The Yellow Ribbon Committee was created through the hard work of Ann McLaughlin, who has overseen the Yellow Ribbon ceremonies as well as the Welcome Home ceremonies.

"Of all the trees in town, it had to be that one," McLaughlin said. "I walked around and all the flags have been destroyed ... I saw a few ribbons on the ground under the leaves, but I'm sure they're all destroyed."

McLaughlin, who hopes to try and salvage some of the ribbons and flags that might remain before public works cleans up the tree, remained upbeat.

"You know what, I have a wonderful Yellow Ribbon Committee and those ladies will just make some more and we'll find another tree somewhere," she said.

More than 775,000 are without power across the state as of 11 a.m. on Sunday and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has asked President Barack Obama to declare the state a disaster area.

“Assessments are taking place,” Malloy said. “We are going to have extensive and long-term power outages and it looks like some people without power for as much as a week.”

Connecticut Light & Power has 300 crews working to restore power throughout the state and looking to add 1,000 more line crews and 300 tree crews from out of state.

"This will not be a quick fix ... this may take more than a week to restore all of our customers. There are reports of trees down practically everywhere," Jeff Butler, president and chief operating officer of CL&P said in a press release. "To help with damage assessments, we're using two helicopters. Our other priorities today are handling emergency situations and working in partnership with the towns to clear the blocked roads."

East Hampton Acting Interim Town Manager Anne McKinney has been assessing the storm's impact on the town, trying to determine with calls to CL&P how long those without power will remain so and whether opening the high school as a temporary shelter will be necessary.

Businesses were open in East Hampton, with long lines at McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts. The lines were so long throughout the day at Dunkin Donuts that it will close early because, as one employee put it, "We're basically out of everything."

In Portland, several traffic lights were out along Main Street and crews are out trying to clear large branches with dump trucks equipped with plows.

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Information from press releases included in this report.