Director of Communications Maureen Will has issued a second CodeRED for town employees, for Thursday, March 8: nonessential personnel and municipal employees are to report to work at 10 am.

"Be careful on your way in," Mrs Will urged all. "Be cognizant of downed tree limbs and wires."

Mrs Will had issued her , letting employees and residents know that municipal offices would be closing for the day at noon.

first CodeRED due to the nor'easter around 11 am Wednesday

Firefighters from all five of the town's companies have been responding to calls for trees and wires falling all over town since mid afternoon. A few roads have been temporarily closed due to the wires and trees in roadways.

At 4:43 pm Wednesday, Eversource was reporting 110 of its 11,301 customers in Newtown were without power, representing less than one percent (0.97) of its customers in town. Four hours later, at 8:52, that number had jumped to 2,510 customers - 22% of the town's residents - were without power. Across the state, more than 80,000 Eversource customers were without power at that hour.

On its Facebook page, Newtown Police Department Wednesday evening noted that "multiple roads throughout town are blocked by trees and wires down. This is limiting plow trucks ability to address roads. Use extreme caution if you must travel in town."

The public school district has already announced a

two-hour delay for schools on Thursday. The Newtown Bee has been notified that a second announcement will be issued around 7 am Thursday, however, once roads have been evaluated. An extended start to the school day or full cancellation may be announced at that time.

Following a slow start around daybreak, steady snow has been falling since early afternoon. Fairfield County remains

under a Winter Storm Warning, which is in effect until 4 am Thursday, March 8. The National Weather Service this evening if forecasting snow to continue, mainly before 2 am Thursday.

Blustery winds will also remain, with a northwest wind 16 to 21 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph, however.

The weather service is reporting an average of 14.8 inches had fallen in Newtown as of 5 pm.

During his 6 pm press conference Wednesday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy Governor announced an order banning travel of all tractor trailers and tandem trailers on limited access highways in the state.

The ban will remain in effect until further notice, he said.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-308511" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/march-7-snow-by-KB.jpg" alt="march 7 snow by KB" width="800" height="600" /]

A Town of Newtown truck navigates along roads in Sandy Hook Wednesday afternoon, before the heaviest snow arrived in the area.

-Bee Photo, Bobowick