Oct. 31 (UPI) — Hundreds of thousands still have no electricity in the Northeast Tuesday — a leftover from Tropical Storm Philippe after it battered New York and New England.
The power outages have forced several school districts in Massachusetts to cancel classes this week — and some neighborhoods to postpone Halloween festivities.
A Massachusetts deputy police chief said the lack of electricity could put the safety of trick-or-treaters at greater risk.
Tropical Storm Philippe hit the Northeast on Sunday with strong winds and flash floods. About 120,000 homes and businesses were without power in Massachusetts early Tuesday.
“Crews made great progress overnight,” New England utility Eversource said on Twitter. “Our entire [Massachusetts] restoration is expected to be substantially complete by midnight tonight.”
In New Hampshire, more than 200,000 still don’t have power.
“This will be a multi-day restoration,” Eversource spokesman Kaitlyn Woods said. “The challenge with this storm is we lost a great deal of the energy system and it will take some time to assess and repair.”
In Connecticut, more than 60,000 customers remain without power as of Tuesday morning and roads remain blocked by debris and leaves. Nearly half of the city of Hebron was without power Tuesday.
At the height of the storm, downed trees and power lines left more than 1 million people without electricity.
