Governor Malloy Issues Travel Ban for Connecticut for Monday Evening

Gov. Dannel Malloy urged state residents to get home earlier, prepare and then wait out the pending blizzard.

“This has the potential of setting a record,” Malloy said in a 10 a.m. press conference.

Malloy has issued a statewide travel ban beginning at 9 p.m. Monday in anticipation of what will be the heaviest part of the storm. Only emergency and recovery vehicles will be allowed to travel until Malloy lifts the ban.

Snow has the potential to fall at a rate of four inches per hour.

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He has also declared a declaration of civil preparedness emergency.

Predictions for total snowfall range from 22 inches to as many as 32 inches for the state. Winds on the coast can gust up to 60 miles per hour.

The state Department of Transportation has its entire fleet of 600 crews activated.

“While we have crews working around the clock, anytime you have blizzard conditions… it will take time to clear all roads for safe travel,” he said. “Please be patient and allow all crews to do their work.”

Connecticut Transit will cease operations at 8 p.m. and Metro North’s schedule will be decided later today. The state college system and state employee schedules will also be decided later today, Malloy said.

MTA will add more Metro North trains between 1 and 5 p.m.

Both United Illuminating and Connecticut Light and Power have brought in crews from as far away as Ontario in anticipation of a level 1 power outage. A level 1 event predicts CL&P outages for as many as 110,000 customers and 10,000 for UI.

Malloy urged municipalities to keep workers plowing as long as they can so that they don’t fall behind. That lesson was learned during the 2013 blizzard.

“If you fall behind with snow that is falling at four inches per hour, you will never catch up,” he said.