ALSTEAD, N.H. (AP) -Safety concerns have prompted officials in flood-ravaged Alstead to move Halloween festivities indoors.

Officials and parents decided the heavy construction traffic around town posed a danger to trick-or-treaters. Instead, a party was scheduled for the children at the Vilas Middle School.

“We wanted to do something to help the kids get through all this and to give them a sense of normalcy,” said Pamela J. Patnode, one of the partys organizers and co-president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Alstead Primary School.

The celebration was open to all children, including from surrounding towns. The event included trick-or-treating and a haunted house.

At least 36 homes were destroyed in Alstead and 50 more received at least minor damage.

Seven people were killed in October’s floods, four of them from Alstead.

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Information from: The Keene Sentinel, http://www.keenesentinel.com

AP-ES-10-31-05 1401EST