Photos: October Storm Pummels Connecticut

1:30 p.m. Update:

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has asked President Obama for an emergency declaration to help with cleanup for the state. If granted, the state would be eligible for direct federal assistance as well as reimbursement for 75% of certain emergency protective measures.

The governor also lifted the travel ban for the Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkways, but advised residents to stay off the roads if possible to let DOT crews clear impacted areas.

As of this time, 100% of CL&P customers in Durham and Middlefield and 25% of Killingworth customers are without power.

10 a.m. Update:

About two dozen residents, including several families, came to Coginchaug High School by 10 a.m. Sunday morning to seek shelter from the cold after a snow storm pummeled Connecticut overnight and left more than 770,000 customers without power.

Emergency management officials and volunteers opened the school an hour earlier to provide residents a place to stay warm, get some food or coffee. Showers are also available.

"I think this is going to be a worse situation because the power situation statewide is much worse," Chris Soulias, deputy director of Durham's emergency management department said about how the storm compared to the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.

Members of the Durham Animal Response Team (DART) have also set up an area for residents to bring their pets.

Several people at the shelter could be overheard talking about the possibility that power would not be restored until Thursday, possibly later.

By Sunday morning, all of Durham (3073) and Middlefield (2146) had lost power (5216 customers total).

A few towns, mostly in southeastern Connecticut, escaped major power outages. Groton and East Lyme had a combined six outages as of 10:00 a.m.

Souias said he expected it to take longer to restore power from the storm because crews were streteched thin across the country.

Residents in need of assistance should call the town's storm line at 860-343-6735 or 860-704-9111.

Midnight Saturday Update:

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared a state of emergency in Connecticut Saturday evening and warned those without power to expect to be in the dark for "a prolonged period of time."

Malloy said more than 400,000 CL&P customers were without power so far, but the CL&P website showed 512,000 customers without power as of 8:20 p.m. The storm is expected to tail off on Sunday morning, but until then the governor urged motorists to stay off the roads.

As of midnight, 1,224 (39%) CL&P customers were without power in Durham. 1,840 (85%) customers in Middlefield and 862 (30%) in Killingworth were also in the dark.

Malloy said there was one reported fatality during the storm so far, a motorist along Route 85 in Colchester, and that a Connecticut State Trooper had also suffered injuries during the storm, but they were not serious.

The governor said he thought the state was well-prepared to handle the freak  snowstorm and that there were currently 600 state vehicles out clearing roadways, and an additional 40 contracted vehicles assisting.

Malloy said Bradley International Airport was still open and that 23 planes so far had been diverted there from other airports. The record for incoming diverted planes at Bradley is 27, he said.

-- Reporting by Dave Moran, Manchester Patch editor

8:25 p.m. Saturday Update

From Durham Emergency Management: 

This storm event has already resulted in power outages across town. We urge residents to shelter in place overnight so crews can clear the roads of snow and downed wires.  It is unlikely that power will be restored tonight. A decision will be made in the morning when to open Coginchaug Regional High School and perhaps the Durham Activity Center as warming and emergency shelter locations. 

Please let your friends and neighbors know about the hotline, especially those who you think may not have access to electronic messaging. 

Please do not hesitate to call the storm hotline should you need any assistance. 

We will send updates as necessary from the Safer Durham Notification System 
and the  TOWN OF DURHAM WEBSITE (www.townofdurhamct.org), EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FACEBOOK PAGE:http://www.facebook.com/DURHAMEMD  
AND TWITTER (@durhamem) WILL BE UPDATED. 

DURHAM EMERGENCY SERVICES AND PUBLIC WORKS STAFF WORKING HARD TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY AND ASSIST YOU. 

PLEASE CALL 911 ONLY IF YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY.

PLEASE BE SAFE AND WARM. 

As of 8:30 p.m. 2,344 Connecticut Light and Power customers in Durham were without electricity. 1,841 customers in Middlefield were left in the dark, while 840 customers had lost power in Killingworth.

Original story

Officials in Durham were planning to open an emergency shelter at Coginchaug High School Saturday night, as a rare October storm continued to dump heavy snow across the state, leaving thousands without power.

As of 7 p.m., 2326 Connecticut Light and Power customers in Durham (75 percent) were left in the dark and emergency officials had already received more than a dozen calls for downed trees and power lines, including along Route 17 near Dinatale Drive, which remained closed after a tree and electrical lines had fallen onto the road.

"With the power outages going out this quickly I'm going to do a notification out to people letting them know to expect to have wide scale power outages and we're going to plan to open the shelter as a warning center," said Francis Willett, the town's emergency management director.

The Safer Durham notification system alerts residents to emergencies through land lines, cell phones and email.

Residents in need of assistance should call the town's storm line at 860-343-6735 or 860-704-9111.

For emergencies, call 911.

In Middlefield, firefighters closed Cider Mill Road after a power line with a transformer collapsed during the storm.

As of 7 p.m., 1756 CL&P customers in Middlefield were without power.

1226 customers were in the dark in Killingworth.