AlHijjah 4, 1432, Oct 31, 2011, SPA -- Devastation from a rare and deadly October snowstorm lingered in the Northeast on Monday, leaving 2.2 million houses without power, closing schools, snarling the morning commute and postponing Halloween fun, Reuters reported. The storm that raged from West Virginia to Maine from Saturday until late Sunday was blamed for at least 12 deaths, most of them on slippery roads. Many roads were still barricaded to steer traffic away from downed trees and power lines. Ghoul and goblin decorations were blanketed with record snowfall for October in many places, such as 32 inches (81 cm) measured in the western Massachusetts town of Peru, according to the National Weather Service. Utility officials said the storm caused more tree damage than most winter storms because leaves had not yet fallen so trees caught far more snowfall than usual. "It was like wet cement that just adhered to trees, branches, leaves and power lines," said David Graves, spokesman for utility National Grid. "That's what really caused the damage, the weight of that snow," he said. Across the Northeast, about 2.2 million customers remained without power on Monday. Theo Brinkerhoff, 4, who planned to dress as a ghost on Monday but was forced to wear a heavy sweater and snow boots under his costume to keep warm, refused to believe it was the bewitching autumn holiday. "It's not Halloween, because it's still winter," he said while visiting grandparents in Amherst, Massachusetts, a town still mostly in the dark.
