Jason Teakle
BRANT NEWS

Residents of Brantford and County of Brant were let off easy.

Local officials are reporting no serious impact due to post-tropical storm Sandy, the “superstorm” that battered the eastern U.S. overnight on Monday.

At least 35 people died in seven states and 7.4 million people were left without power south of the border due to the storm. Sandy’s high winds are being blamed for the death of one woman in Toronto.

The massive weather system made landfall in New Jersey at about 8 p.m. before moving eastward.

Brantford Power CEO George Mychailenko said increased wind speeds in the city overnight did not cause any significant power outages or downed hydro lines in Brantford.

“We didn’t receive any calls (Monday) night,” Mychailenko said. “Our service truck did not go out…but we’re still standing by.”

According to Environment Canada, Brantford received nearly 20 millimetres of rain overnight on Monday with wind gusts of up to 50 km/h being felt into early Tuesday morning.

Rain showers continued in the area on Tuesday as wind speeds fell.

Cam Linwood, spokesperson for the Grand River Conservation Authority, said the organization is focused on promoting safety near watercourses following steady rainfall during the storm and increased precipitation during the past month.

“We are focused on keeping people and pets away from the river and stream banks,” Linwood said. “It has been a wet October and river and stream banks are very slippery.

“Rivers, including the Grand and the Nith, will be flowing higher and faster over the next few days as the water moves through the system.”

Brantford Fire Department platoon chief Herb Van Der Made said firefighters did not respond to any calls in relation to the weather on Monday night.

“It was very uneventful,” Van Der Made said. “We had nothing storm-related at all. We were prepared, but we were very fortunate.”

Brantford police Staff Sgt. Richard Boyington said officers were not called to any storm damage incidents overnight on Monday.

“I didn’t see anything on our log (Tuesday) morning,” Boyington said. “There was nothing significant that was storm-related.”

But some nearby cities and towns did not fare as well as Brant, both during and in the aftermath of the storm.

In Toronto, some 60,000 people were left without power during the height of the storm overnight on Monday.

A woman in her 50s was killed when she was struck in the head after high winds blew a sign down in the area of St. Clair Avenue West and Keele Street in Toronto.

Some GTA schools were closed on Tuesday and commuters reportedly had a difficult morning trip into the city due to public transit delays and closures and downed trees.

- With files from the Toronto Star.