REUTERS

BOSTON DEVASTATION from a rare and deadly October snowstorm lingered in the Northeast where 1.6 million homes were still without power on Monday, schools were closed and downed trees and powerlines snarled traffic.

The storm that raged from West Virginia to Maine from Saturday until late Sunday was blamed for at least 13 deaths, most on slippery roads.

Halloween fun was postponed.

Ghoul and goblin decorations were blanketed with record snowfall for October in many places, such as 32 inches measured in the western Massachusetts town of Peru, according to the National Weather Service.

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.

Many roads were still barricaded to steer traffic away from downed trees and power lines. Utility officials said the storm caused more tree damage than most winter storms because leaves had not yet fallen so trees caught far more snow 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.

In New York, three days after authorities confiscated their generators, hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters struggled to stay warm and dry after the snow storm. Some got tips on how to deal with the cold weather from homeless people.

“They have the most amazing knowledge base for dealing with cold weather,” protester Justin Stone-Diaz said.

“So honestly, we’re getting it from people with experience.” Occupy Wall Street demonstrators have camped in a New York park for six weeks to protest against economic inequality.

It will likely be days before power is restored to all residents in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and other states hit hard by the storm.