Weird Halloween weather blew through Sloatsburg Thursday, October 27, dumping more than a foot of off-season snow on the village. Trees full of autumn yellow and green leaves bent from the burden, and the pop and snap of breaking branches could be heard throughout the night. By sunrise Friday, Sloatsburg was at a standstill. Many throughout Rockland County lost power, cable and even cell phone service. One of the hardest hit Sloatsburg neighborhoods was heavily-wooded Pine Grove Lakes.

According to Orange & Rockland reports, nearly 130,000 people lost power, 10,000 more than during the damage caused by Hurricane Irene earlier in the year. Gov. Cuomo of New York declared an emergency in 13 counties from the Halloween weekend storm. In all, nearly 3 million people throughout the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Main, lost power.

With branches down and power spotty, Sloatsburg cancelled its annual Halloween Parade. “You had to cancel it because of the storm,” said Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright, explaining the decision as one of safety due to local power outages and downed lines as well as stresses on village and township services. “This was a unique storm,” he said.

By November 2, the Day of the Dead, after 4 days down, Sloatsburg was mostly back to life. Orange & Rockland reported that it deployed more than 550 work crews, the most the company has ever fielded, some from as far away as Florida and Michigan, working round the clock to restore power throughout its service area.