Power failures were not on the scale of last October's snowstorm.
Western Massachusetts experienced high winds and rain from Hurricane Sandy Monday, with crews responding to reports of downed power lines and tree branches.
Power outages were scattered throughout Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick said Monday night the state had weathered the storm fairly well. State government will open at 10 a.m. today, he said.
Patrick said about 385,000 utility customers across the state lost power as of 8:30 Monday night. That’s out of a total of 2.7 million customers, he said. “In relative terms, we’re in a good place,“ the governor said.
National Grid reported 1,663 customers without power in Brimfield, 1,480 without power in Hampden, 1,002 customers without power in Wales, 483 customers without power in Monson, 294 without power in Palmer, 81 without power in Wilbraham and 57 without power in East Longmeadow.
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. reported 253 customers without power in Springfield, 212 customers without power in Ludlow and most of the town of Russell without power.
National Grid reported that the entire towns of Heath, Holland, Wales and most of Brimfield were without power.
To the relief of Western Massachusetts residents, outages were not on the scale of last year’s October snowstorm where outages in many communities lasted for more than a week.
Widespread power outages did not materialize.
Patrick urged patience for power restoration, considering numerous downed trees and limbs.
He said high winds made it unsafe for crews to immediately make some repairs.
Virtually all schools in Western Massachusetts were closed Monday, but officials in most communities were waiting to make a decision about Tuesday. Azell Cavaan, spokesman for the Springfield public schools, said Monday night that no decision had been made.
Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet directed six, one-man cruisers to remain on duty past their day shift, to respond to hurricane-related problems.
As of early evening, Springfield did not see a need to open an emergency shelter, but would be ready if needed, Mayor Domenic Sarno said.
City officials urged residents to check on the well being of their neighbors, particularly the elderly.
Residents were advised not to touch downed power lines and always assume they are live wires.
Weather officials said the peak of the storm for Western Massachusetts - the heaviest rain and strongest wind - was expected to be over by 9 p.m. Monday. Winds were expected to begin easing after midnight.
In Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy ordered road closures for all state highways Monday morning. The closures included Interstate 91 at the Connecticut border.
“If you’re in a non-evacuation area, stay home,” Malloy said.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick closed state government Monday, including about 80,000 workers. Excluded were 20,000 emergency employees, including public safety and health and human services.
Patrick urged people to stay off the roads as much as possible and remain indoors. Emergency workers should be free to move around, he said.
Communities closed municipal offices early as well as public libraries.
The Eastfield Mall, Holyoke Mall and Hampshire Mall all closed early on Monday due to the hurricane. Banks also closed early.
For the second year in a row, the weather threatened to sabotage Halloween activities.
In Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse announced that trick-or-treating will be postponed until Nov. 3.
In Monson, trick-or-treating activities have been shifted to Nov. 4 from 3 to 6 p.m. with a Rotary Club parade starting at 5 p.m.
In Northfield, Halloween activities have also been postponed until Nov. 4.
In Chicopee, early in the storm an electrical substation in the Fairview section of the city was damaged, causing power outages. Repairs were made within 45 minutes and all electricity was restored, Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.
With the exception of a few homes which had electrical lines to the house down, there were no other outages as of 7 p.m., Bissonnette said.
Companies from Minnesota, Indiana and North Carolina sent crews to assist if there were massive outages. If those crews are not needed, they will go to assist other municipal companies, Bissonnette said.
Because of the small amount of damage from the storm, children are expected to be able to trick-or-treat on Wednesday, Bissonnette said.
“It looks like Wednesday night is going to be normal so Halloween will likely go forward,” Bissonnette said.
In Northampton an emergency shelter was opened at Smith Vocational and Agricultural School Monday morning.
An animal shelter in a neighboring school building also was ready for use.
There were enough cots for 48 people, but the shelter was able to be expanded to accommodate more.
Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which is next door, said it would lend assistance if needed, Ellen Patashnick of the American Red Cross said.
Crystal Colandria said she drove down to use the shelter from Turners Falls with her two sons, ages 2 and 7 months. Colandria said she wanted to be in a safe place during the storm.
Keith O’Connor, senior public affairs specialist for Baystate Medical Center, urged residents to check on family and neighbors during the storm.
Robert Moore, emergency preparedness coordinator for Holyoke Medical Center, said the hospital had topped off all generators.
“We have extra supplies of bottled water and food supplies,” he said.
He said some workers were concerned that Connecticut highways had been closed, but that anybody with a hospital identification was being allowed to use the roads.
“We have cots, blankets and linens to be able to put up 100 workers overnight if we have to,” Moore said.
Holyoke Medical Center also had an extra ambulance on stand by, Moore said.
Teresa Grove, director of marketing for Wing Memorial Hospital, said, “We’re ready for the storm.
“We’ve tested our emergency preparedness plan,” she said.
Bruce Bussiere, director of emergency management for Noble Hospital, said generators had been topped off and a seven-day food supply had been delivered.