A National Weather Service damage team will investigate Wednesday whether a tornado touched down in St. Albans during a storm Monday afternoon that downed trees and knocked out power to many in the region, particularly in Somerset County.
Early Tuesday evening, downed trees still blocked some private roads in the county, slowing utility crews that were trying to get to those without power.
The central Somerset County town of St. Albans was one of the hardest-hit in the fast-moving storm, which generated tornado warnings in Somerset and Franklin counties and reports of golf ball-size hail. Of Central Maine Power’s 1,353 customers in the town, 81 were still without power at 7:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Trees fell, taking down power lines and blocking roads, and some of those in more isolated areas of the county won’t have power back until Wednesday night, according to CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice.
CMP expected to fix most outages by Tuesday night, CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said. In some areas, though, where the storm caused considerable damage and road blockages are making it harder for crews to get to the downed wires, it will take longer. Crews from southern Maine and the coast were in the area, helping to fix the damage, and CMP crews were expected to work through the night.
At 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, 264 customers in Somerset county out of a total of 29,366 were without power, down from 3,700 in the county shortly after the storm Monday. There were still dozens of outages in Knox, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.
Nearly everyone in Harmony – 572 out of 577 CMP customers – was without power Tuesday morning, but that number was down to 10 by Tuesday evening.
In St. Albans, where many believed a tornado had touched down near Indian Pond, multiple streets in the town had no power Tuesday morning.
The possible tornado was reported almost two years to the day after one hit during a similar storm.
Michael Smith, the Somerset County emergency management director, said there were more than 60 reports of fallen trees or wires in the county after the storm and the damage from the possible tornado was close to where the 2014 twister touched down, near Indian Pond.
He had his eye out Tuesday morning for signs of a tornado, such as twisted trees, and said some residents who have experienced tornadoes before said Monday’s storm felt similar.
The National Weather Service office in Gray isn’t sending the damage survey team until Wednesday, because on Tuesday the team was in New Hampshire, another area the storm caused major damage. The weather service reported Tuesday that the damage in Plaistow, New Hampshire, was caused by a microburst with wind gusts of 80 to 90 mph.
The National Weather Service office in Caribou confirmed that a tornado touched down Monday evening about 5 miles west of New Sweden, a town in Aroostook County.
There have been 13 confirmed tornadoes in Somerset County since 1950, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping track.
“We missed total devastation by inches,” Brian Steinward, 66, who lives on Luckman Road in St. Albans, said Tuesday.
He said the area got very dark Monday and then, “Kapow! It just came in,” including strong wind and what he described as marble-sized hail.
He was one of those without power Tuesday afternoon. He said given the storm’s power, the damage could have been much worse. Of the 15 homes and camps on Luckman Road, one had major roof damage from a collapsed tree, he said.
Many trees missed homes by inches, and a 120-foot tall poplar tree landed just a few feet from his deck.
In Skowhegan, a large fir tree came crashing down onto a 37-foot recreational vehicle at the Coburn Avenue home of Rick and Pat Nadeau.
On Tuesday morning, Rick Nadeau was positioning a floor jack under the tree to take weight off the damaged RV. Nadeau said at least 10 large trees were toppled nearby during Monday’s brief but powerful storm, and many neighbors had damaged trees and property.
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