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August 29, 2011

Irene leaves 204,000 still without power in Maine

By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Hundreds of line crews are out restoring power to those left in the dark due to the storm.

Central Maine Power's total of outages is back up to 183,000 as customers continue to report new interruptions this morning, but the utility expects those reports to drop off as high winds ease later in the day.

Bangor Hydro-Electric's latest count was about 21,000 outages.

6:27 a.m.

Central Maine Power Co. reported this morning that 171,000 customers remain without power, most in the southern and western parts of the state, and it could be days before some get their power back. 

Crews today will be focusing on assessing he damage, de-energizing lines so they are safe and restoring some of the utility’s transmission lines which also were knocked out.

“It doesn’t help to repair the roadside distribution lines if the substantions aren’t working, said spokesman John Carroll. “Once you have that fixed, you can engergize the distribution system.”

Carroll said he expects a more precise assessment of outages and repair efforts following an 8 a.m. conference call with utility officials.

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