City officials in Worcester, Mass., are also asking everyone to postpone Halloween trick or treating until Thursday, reports the Worcester Telegram.
“We need time to clean up and enjoy the trick or treating and all of the festivities knowing that we will be safe,” City Manager Michael V. O'Brien said. “We don't want families and children maneuvering around piles of snow and downed trees.”
The storm's lingering effects likely will outlast the snow. Temperatures are expected to begin rising Monday and the heavy, wet snow will start melting, the National Weather Service said.
The unseasonably early nor'easter had utility companies struggling to restore electricity to more than 3 million homes and businesses. By early Monday, the number of customers without power was still above 2 million but falling. But officials in some states warned it could be days or even a week before residents have power again, even though crews have been brought in from as far away as Michigan and Canada.
"We are in full restoration mode," said Marcy Reed, president of National Grid Massachusetts.
A weekend that should have brought activity no more strenuous than raking colorful autumn leaves left Northeasterners weather-weary.
"You had this storm, you had Hurricane Irene, you had the flooding last spring and you had the nasty storms last winter," Tom Jacobsen said Sunday while getting coffee at a convenience store in Hamilton Township, N.J. "I'm starting to think we really ticked off Mother Nature somehow because we've been getting spanked by her for about a year now."
