Patriot's Park, the staging ground for Sunday night's would-be annual parade, was empty at 4:30 p.m., save for some downed tree limbs. Because officials deemed the situation outside too unsafe for a parade, the event was cancelled.
Same situation in Sleepy Hollow, where Mayor Ken Wray sent out this announcement earlier Sunday:
We will not be running the Haunted Hayride tonight, as much as we would like to.
There are continuing safety concerns including broken limbs and branches that are still hanging from trees along the route. Our DPW workers, who are integral to the Hayride, worked into the early morning hours clearing roads and dealing with storm damage throughout the Village. There are many days of work ahead for them to finish the storm clean up. In addition, many areas of the Village have no power. We are working with Con Edison on this problem.
There are limbs down everywhere, the smaller ones dragged off the roads to the curbs. But many sites remain untouched and the DPW can't clean until Con-Ed cuts dangerously hanging power lines. Con-Ed, of course, is swamped with outtages throughout the region.
According to Sergeant Frank Cossifos of the Tarrytown Police Department, “it’s about 50/50. Half of the Village has power; half doesn’t.” Road closures due to downed lines and trees are “too numerous to count.”
In Sleepy Hollow, lower Pocantico Street is closed to vehicular traffic with a sizable limb propped on top of one house's porch, and an electrical wire just hanging down into the street. "Road closed" signs don't stop pedestrians from walking by in the melting snow.
Meanwhile, there are the Halloween tourists, here for all the festivities with nothing to do (save for wander the cemetery and eat and drink - businesses are open for the most part).
And McDonald's is a hub for those residents without power who combine an easy meal with free wireless.
Maxine and Michael Worden, of Union Street in Tarrytown, had asked management if they could unplug the light-up Halloween decorations so they could charge their devices on one of two available outlets. They were here with their two young boys, trying to book a hotel room since their house is freezing. The closest room they could find was in Parsippany, New Jersey, an hour's drive.
"Everything's booked," Michael Worden said. "They all have an automated greeting saying 'due to the inclement weather...'"
"Con-Ed said we probably won't have power until Wednesday," he added, as his wife set the kids up with their Happy Meals. "We thought we could handle it, but it was too cold last night with the kids."
