New York Halloween Parade canceled due to Hurricane Sandy

New York Mayor’s Office and the NYPD shut down the Halloween Greenwich Village parade which normally weaves its route through the West Side neighborhood.

But it remains in complete darkness this evening, more than 24 hours after power was cut off to most of lower Manhattan during fierce winds and widespread flooding.

However, New Jersey Mayor Chris Christie today made good on his promise to make sure the Garden State was able to have Halloween and moved the holiday to November 5.

Chris Christie promised on Tuesday: “If conditions are not safe on Wednesday for trick-or-treating, I will sign an executive order rescheduling.”

“I’ve taken this action to minimize additional risks to lives and the public safety as we begin the process of rebuilding and recovering from Hurricane Sandy,” said Governor Chris Christie.

“In too many communities in our state, the damage and losses from this storm are still being sorted out, and dangerous conditions abound even as our emergency management and response officials continue their work.

“As Governor, it is my responsibility to use all available resources of the state government to protect against the emergency created by Hurricane Sandy – postponing Halloween celebrations by five days is a common sense and necessary step to accomplish that.”

Meanwhile, New York City all out cancelled their annual event.

Organizers of the parade said: “We hope that everyone who would have come to the Parade is safe and that those who can volunteer to help out at one of the Emergency Outreach Centers near you. We will surely miss all of you!”

The parade, which would have begun at 6:30 p.m. on 6th Avenue, usually attracts up to 60,000 Halloween lovers in the most outrageous costumes.

More than 50 bands playing an eclectic range of music take part along with hundreds of dancers, artists and giant puppets.

The theme of this year’s parade was “Tick Tock”, tying in with the final year of the Mayan calendar which predicts the apocalypse.

Halloween looked likely to be an uncharacteristically somber affair as up and down the East Coast people come to terms with Sandy’s aftermath.

Across New York and Westchester, around 811,000 people were without power – with that number reaching a staggering eight million along the Eastern Seaboard.

The outages in Manhattan have been attributed to a huge explosion at an electrical substation, which blew up when it was apparently overwhelmed by floodwater.

Traveling around the city remains difficult as it would still be four to five days before limited operation could begin on the New York subway, according to Bloomberg, with some reports estimating it might take as long as 21 days for service to become fully functioning.