[Updated 3:55 p.m. Tuesday] Town Offices Open After South Windsor 'Dodges a Bullet'

[Updated 4 p.m.] The town has closed down its emergency operations center. Recovery efforts will be monitered through the public safety dispatch center.

The town will not be sheltering any residents. Instead, the library will be open until 9 p.m. and the Charles N. Enes Community Center is open from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Both will serve as warming and comfort centers.

The town does not plan to have a special pickup for debris generated by the storm. Removal of debris, trees and limbs is the responsibility of homeowners.

The leaf pick-up program will begin this Thursday, Nov. 1. The town has announced that only leaves will be picked up. Any branches, trees or debris will be separated and left behind.

CL&P is continuing its work to restore the South Windsor customers who are without power, but the utility has not provided a time for restoration.

[Original Story] The two seemingly disparate images - a rainbow and a fallen tree - are in actuality perfect symbols of how South Windsor fared through the superstorm named Sandy.

The rainbow is clearly a reference to the peace and calm after the storm.

The tree, a 25 to 30-foot evergreen that was violently uprooted at 121 Bourbon St. last night after a powerful gust Monday evening, is less obvious at first glance.

But, as resident Susan Mazur said, the tree fell perfectly, landing relatively harmlessly parallel to her house and missing the cars in her driveway and the power lines that hang in the opposite direction.

Mazur considered herself so lucky, she was able to joke about it.

“If anyone wants to make some wreaths, come to my house on Bourbon Street,” Mazur quipped.

Mazur’s good fortune mirrored the town’s as just 747 Connecticut Light and Power customers out of 11,500 - just 6 percent - were without power as of 9:30 a.m., according to Town Manager Matthew Galligan.

Over 600,000 people in Connecticut lost power, with the eastern shoreline taking the brunt of the damage.

“We dodged a bullet a bit,” Galligan said. “We were very fortunate. The crews did a great job, as trees came down, they took pictures, entered the information on our dashboard and we cleared them as best we could.”

Just four secondary roads were closed as of 9:30 a.m., according to police: Palmer Drive and Deepwood Drive closed, Sunnyside Drive and Scott Drive closed, Long Hill Road near Pleasant Valley Road and Neiderwerfer Road in the area of 300 block.

Those situations were fluid, according to Chief of Police Matthew Reed. Crews were on the road in town and those roads could be open relatively quickly.

Galligan said that town offices were scheduled to open at 10 a.m. They would have been opened earlier but for the statewide travel ban that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy lifted around 8:30 a.m.

Ten people stayed at the shelter at the high school, according to Galligan. The shelter was being shut down and, if people are still without power and there is a need, the town will likely shift its shelter to the Charles N. Enes Community Center, Galligan said.

No decision had been made yet as to when schools would open, as Timothy Edwards Middle School was still without power as of 9:45 a.m., Galligan said. The town was working with CL&P to make that restoration a priority, Galligan said. The decision to re-open schools is Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kate Carter’s to make, Galligan said.