Maine escaped the brunt of a nor’easter that moved offshore Saturday after flooding roads, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses from Maryland to New England.

But another round of moderate coastal flooding in the usual locations was triggered from Portland south during the high tide at noon Saturday. Forecasters Saturday night were expecting at least one more round of high tides to cause flooding, at around 12:20 a.m. Sunday.

“I think we’ll have more flooding issues tonight, but hopefully that will be the last high tide cycle to do damage,” said Tom Hawley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray.

Hawley said the storm was “still churning” out to sea Saturday night and that winds would weaken Sunday. He predicted wind gusts of about 20 miles an hour Sunday, compared to 40 mph in coastal areas Saturday.

Many coastal road were closed Saturday. In Scarborough, Sawyer Street and Pine Point Road at East Grand Avenue were closed about 11:30 a.m. due to flooding. The roads were reopened by evening but police were expecting more possible road problems after the early Sunday high tide.

In Wells, Mile Road, Webhannet Drive, Eldridge Road, Bourne Avenue and Ocean Avenue were closed for minor flooding and were to reopen as the tides receded, said a police dispatcher. Mile Road and Bourne Avenue were reopened by nightfall, but Webhannet Road and the 400 to 500 block of Ocean Avenue were still closed, police said.

The Coast Guard launched searches Saturday morning after a sailboat was found adrift off Rockland and a kayak was found washed up on rocks in South Portland, which is standard procedure when a boat is found adrift and the owner can’t immediately be accounted for. The Rockland owner was located shortly after the search started.

The Coast Guard launched a search by 47-foot motor lifeboat off Portland Harbor after the unmanned kayak was found about 8:30 a.m. washed up on the rocks near Cloyster Road in South Portland. The two-man kayak is red, Petty Officer Geoff Potter said. The Portland Fire Department also dispatched search boats. The South Portland Fire Department searched land in the area. The Coast Guard continued to search Portland Harbor on Saturday afternoon, but a spokesman couldn’t be reached for an update Saturday night.

In Freeport, several power lines blew down on Pownal Road about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The road was shut down until crews could make repairs.

Power outages in Maine were sporadic. About 6,000 Central Maine Power customers were without power Saturday morning, about half of them in Harpswell. Most of the outages were restored by afternoon.

By 8:11 p.m. Saturday, CMP was listing just 420 customers without power in its nine-county service area, including 232 in Lincoln County.

The storm’s height was on Friday, when hurricane-force gusts reached 80 mph around Cape Cod and about 40 to 50 mph in Portland.

By Saturday morning traffic had returned almost to normal at the Portland International Jetport, where dozens of flights had been canceled and delayed Friday. One flight was listed as canceled and three were listed as delayed on the airport’s website Saturday.

Northern New England was spared the worst of the massive coastal storm Friday. The National Weather Service said there was a sharp cutoff for damage, and that most damage was to the south.

In Maine on Friday, a front-end loader was used to rescue a mother and child trapped in a stalled van in flood waters in Wells, The Associated Press reported. And in Hampton, New Hampshire, rescuers waded into the water to help occupants of another vehicle.

Vermont’s Green Mountain Power sent 43 line workers, supervisors and mechanics south to help Saturday, after restoring power to about 8,000 Vermont homes and businesses on Friday.

In Maine the weather will continue to improve as winds subside and skies clear Saturday into Sunday, said Justin Arnott, a meteorologist at the weather service.

He said temperatures would remain in the 40s in the Portland region through Sunday and then drop down to freezing Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday should be partly sunny with highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s. Another coastal storm could hit Wednesday but it is too soon to know for certain, said Arnott.

Related Stories