Durham Bracing for Hurricane Sandy

It's deja vu for Durham officials who met Friday afternoon to prepare for Hurricane Sandy, a catergory one storm that forecasters are still trying to get a handle on but that appears ready to ruin Halloween, again.

A year ago, officials met under similar circumstances to prepare for a rare October nor'easter that eventually knocked out power to more than 800,000 homes and businesses in Connecticut, including all of Durham.

Although forecasters are now predicting that Sandy will make landfall in New Jersey or Delaware early next week, heavy rain and strong winds are expected regardless of where the storm hits.

Durham Emergency Management Director Francis Willett said Friday he planned to open the town's Emergency Operations Center at Town Hall over the weekend to monitor the storm and said residents would be notified once a clearer picture of the storm's path developed.

"I would rather get a better assessment that this is going to be truly power outage, heavy hit, heavy rain, heavy wind and then do the notification," he said.

Earlier Friday, crews from the town's public works department cleaned out culverts in preparation for heavy rains while state Department of Transportation workers made sure drainage areas along the town's highways were cleared of leaves and debris.

First Selectman Laura Francis and Willett discussed the possibility of opening Coginchaug High School as a shelter and said the decision will be made after the weekend.

"I think we're going to have some time on Monday to do some more work," said Francis.

Durham residents are encouraged to sign up for the town's emergency alert system, Safer Durham. Click here to sign up.