Monday Madness: Hurricane Sandy Delays Halloween Trick-or-Treating, President Obama Speaks Out About the Storm

My little sister is pissed!

After receiving one of those voice recording calls from the town Mayor on updates of Hurricane Sandy, comes to find out Carteret, as well as many other towns, are delaying trick-or-treating from Wednesday - Saturday (Nov. 3).

Sorry kiddos.

I tried telling her, it's for your safety and weekend trick-or-treating is better anyway, but she wasn't hearing it.

The East Coast is getting hit with heavy winds, storms and rain today (Oct. 29), tomorrow and possibly Wednesday.


President Obama and Gov. Chris Christie called a state of emergency for New Jersey. Parts of the state are already suffering from power outages. Highways closed down at 1 p.m. today, vehicles are ordered off roads, schools are closed, state officials and many others have today and Tuesday off, and all subways in New York are shut down as we prepare for the worse. 

Christie is urging residents to take this storm seriously and said,  Sandy is “expected to be a severe, potentially devastating storm on track to hit New Jersey beginning Sunday night and be in full force by Monday.”

President Obama warned earlier this afternoon that hurricane Sandy is a big and powerful storm that could have fatal consequences:

“Please listen to what your state and local officials are saying,” he said from the White House briefing room. 

“When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Do not delay, don’t pause, don’t question the instructions that are being given, because this is a serious storm and could potentially have fatal consequences if people haven’t acted.”

“I am not worried, at this point, about the impact on the election. I’m worried about the impact on families and I’m worried about the impact on our first responders. I’m worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation.” the president said. 

“The election will take care of itself next week. Right now our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives, that our search-and-rescue teams are going to be in place, that people are going to get the food, the water, the shelter that they need in case of emergency, and that we respond as quickly as possible to get the economy back on track.”

For live updates on hurricane Sandy, visit ABC's live blog HERE.

MUNICIPAL OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CONTACT NUMBERS:

CARTERET -- 732-541-4007

Shelters: Carteret Middle School - 220 Carteret Ave - opens 6 a.m. Monday

Nathan Hale School - Haywood & Roosevelt - opens 6 a.m. Monday

CRANBURY - 609-395-0031

DUNELLEN - 732-968-3000

EAST BRUNSWICK -- 732-432-6004

Reception Center - Trinity Presbyterian Church on Cranbury Road - opens 8 p.m. today

EDISON -- 732-248-7400

Shelter - Edison Senior Center - 2963 Woodbridge Ave. - opens 8 p.m. today

HELMETTA -- 732-251-4100

HIGHLAND PARK -- 732-572-3800

JAMESBURG - 732-521-0011

METUCHEN - 732-632-8500

MIDDLESEX BOROURGH - 732-356-1900

MILLTOWN - 732-828-1100

Reception Center - Firehouses on Cottage Ave. and South Main St.

MONROE TOWNSHIP -- 732-521-0222

Shelter: Monroe Twp High School - opening will be communicated via Reverse 911

NEW BRUNSWICK -- 732-745-5200

Free Parking for residents to move their cars to higher ground will be located at the Morris Street Parking deck

NORTH BRUNSWICK -- 732-247-7272

OLD BRIDGE - 732-721-5600

PERTH AMBOY -- 732-442-4400

PISCATAWAY -- 732-562-1100

PLAINSBORO -- 609-799-2333

SAYREVILLE -- 732-727-4444

Senior Citizens Center, 425 Main St. - opens 8 a.m. Monday

SOUTH AMBOY -- 732-721-0111

SOUTH RIVER -- 732-613-6112

SOUTH BRUNSWICK -- 732-329-4646

SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- 908-755-0700

SPOTSWOOD -- 732-251-2121

WOODBRIDGE -- 732-634-7700