UPDATED: Lynnfield Schools, Town Hall Closed On Monday

This was updated at 10:26 a.m.

The Lynnfield School District joined other surrounding towns late Sunday afternoon in cancelling Monday's classes. Nearby districts such as Wakefield, North Reading and Peabody also announced cancellations in light of Hurricane Sandy's expected effects on the region.

A separate announcement from the town said that town hall is closed, and trash collection is delayed for at least Monday. Information will be posted online after the storm about when trash collection will resume.

Area Patch.com sites will be providing real-time coverage of storm developments and public safety announcements should they arise.

With an eye on heading off possible blackouts, Reading Municipal Light Department, which includes much of Lynnfield in its service area, reported that workers since Friday have been removing overgrown branches that could knock down wires.

RMLD anticipated bringing on extra personnel on Monday to assist with tree trimming and electrical work in the expected aftermath of the storm. The utility also noted that the trimmed branches are left at the side of the road, to be picked up after the storm.

“With this emergency plan in place, we expect good success for restoration of power to all RMLD customers  in the event of widespread outages,” said RMLD  Engineering and Operations Manager Kevin Sullivan.

On Friday, the town's emergency management director, Fire Chief Joseph Lingel, told Lynnfield Patch that he had met Thursday with his assistant directors - Center Water District Superintendent Ken Burnham and Fire Captain Michael Feinberg - to go over storm plans.

"I have been in contact with our Town Administrator, Police Chief, DPW Director as well as our Health Department to make sure all Town Departments are in a high state of readiness," reported Lingel.

For those who have not done so, residents are advised to sign up for the town's Code Red emergency notification system, which can be viewed at this link.