Schools Closed in East Hampton For Third Day Wednesday

Schools in East Hampton will be closed for the third day in a row on Wednesday, as the town continues to dig itself out of the mess left behind by Hurricane Sandy.

Town Manager Michael Maniscalco also is advising parents to be cautious about taking their children out for Halloween. There are still many downed wires and broken hanging tree limbs around, he said. While the town does not take a formal position on whether to ban trick-or-treating, Maniscalco said parents who decide to do so should be extremely cautious.

"There's a real mess out there," he said.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, nearly 50 percent of CL&P's customers in East Hampton, or 3,030, were still without power.

In Portland, life was getting back to normal late Tuesday afternoon. With fewer than 400 people without electricity at the height of Sandy, cleanup and restoration after the storm has gone smoothly, said First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield. She credit the town's and CL&P's pre-storm tree trimming program with helping to keep damage and outages to a minimum. In addition, children will return to school here tomorrow, though schools will open on a two-hour delay.

About 250 residences and businesses were still without power late Tuesday afternoon.

Bransfield said the town is not taking any unusual precautions for those who go out trick-or-treating on Halloween night. She said town and CL&P work crews expect all storm debris to be cleared by Tuesday night.

East Hampton has opened its high school as an emergency "convenience center" where residents can take hot showers, power up thier cell phones and computers, get bottled and tap water and even a meal. An overnight shelter is available at Bacon Academy, 611 Norwich Ave., Colchester.