Malloy Issues Highway Ban as Sandy's Winds Pick up

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has ordered a travel ban on Connecticut’s highways, a move that will stop large trucks from passing through the state and posing a hazard in heavy winds.

During a noontime briefing on Hurricane Sandy today Malloy said that while the ban means grocery stores won’t get supplies, he said he thinks most residents have, or should have, stocked up by now on food and staples.

“We probably have enough Grey Poupon and we don’t need bread and milk,” he said.

Meanwhile, some of the most dire predictions that the state believed would occur by now have not, Malloy said. For instance, the storm surge in Long Island Sound in Bridgeport was about 10 inches below what officials had expected because the hurricane’s winds shifted and were not as bad as forecasted.

That means United Illuminating, which provides power to that part of the state, did not have to shut down a large power substation there.

And while there were already hundreds of residents without power as of noon today, Malloy warned that the worst of the storm is still to come.

“We are about to enter the most difficult and damaging time of the storm,” he said. “The next 24 hours will be tough, very tough. We are prepared for the worst and determined to get through this together.”

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He also urged anyone not currently being evacuated to stay off the roads to limit dangers to themselves and the need to send emergency workers to help them.

“If you’re not being evacuated, stay home.”  The exception to that, he said, are those who work in emergency response of in the medical field.

Malloy ordered state highways closed in two phases.  At 11 a.m., trucks were prohibited from operating on limited access highways.At 1 p.m., state highways will be closed to all non-emergency related vehicles.

“Residents need to take this storm very seriously," Malloy said. "Beginning in the next several hours, wind gusts will begin to exceed 50 m.p.h., making traveling along our roads – especially wooded areas like the Merritt Parkway – very dangerous."