Daylight Sunday brought a look at the devastation left behind by a rare October snowstorm that blasted Connecticut Saturday.
The storm dumped as much as 20 inches of snow in northwestern Connecticut, and a foot of snow in the central part of the state. The heavy snow weighed down tree branches which had yet to shed leaves. Hundreds of streets were lined with downed trees and branches, pulling down power lines, and leaving nearly 750,000 people without power early Sunday.
There is one storm-related fatality.
The death occurred on Route 85 in Colchester, Gov. Dannel Malloy said during a news conference on Saturday evening.
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Snowfall broke records on Saturday and, by 4 p.m., Malloy had declared a state of emergency for the state and ordered all non-emergency vehicles off the roads.
Several cities and towns have activated emergency operations centers and some emergency shelters have been opened.
Malloy opened the Emergency Operations Center at the Hartford Armory on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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Mitch Gross, of Connecticut Light & Power, said all crews are on call as the company starts the tough task of restoring power.
Heavy snow accumulation in October is virtually unheard of in most of Connecticut. In the greater Hartford area, measurable snow has only occurred three times in the last 100 years. Along the shoreline measurable snow has only occurred once.
Before Saturday, the greatest October snowstorm in metro Hartford dropped 1.7 inches on Oct. 10, 1979 and the heaviest October snowfall in Connecticut history occurred on Oct. 4, 1987 in Norfolk with 9.5 inches of accumulation.
