Nearly 9,000 Central Maine Power customers in the southern Midcoast remained in the dark Tuesday evening after a storm brought high winds and heavy rain Monday night.
There were still about 25,000 CMP customers without power as of 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, according to the company’s website. The number of power outages statewide peaked at 91,137 at 3 a.m. Tuesday with a total of 130,000 customers impacted, a press release stated.
The most affected coastal areas were in York and Cumberland counties, according to the statement. Brunswick and Harpswell in Cumberland County both saw widespread outages.
In Brunswick, 2,609 customers were still without power as of late Tuesday afternoon. CMP spokeswoman Catharine Hartnett said a damaged transmission line was to blame for most outages in Brunswick. Hartnett the transmission line was expected to be fixed Tuesday.
Hartnett said most CMP customers in most counties should have power restored Tuesday night. Outages in parts of Cumberland, Kennebec, Lincoln and Waldo counties may remain until Wednesday, including in Brunswick and Harpswell.
More than 389 line crews and 160 tree crews were working across CMP’s service territory restoring power Tuesday.
In Harpswell, 3,132 customers out of 4,677 total were still without power as of late Tuesday afternoon, according to CMP’s website. Because power was out all across town Tuesday morning, Maine School Administrative District 75 closed Harpswell Community School for the day for both in-person and remote learning. All other MSAD 75 schools were open.
Brunswick School Department also canceled in-person and remote learning Tuesday and the People Plus senior center in Brunswick remained closed.
In Sagadahoc County, 2,715 out of 21,823 total customers were still without power as of 4:40 p.m., including 1,212 in Phippsburg, 436 in Topsham, 223 in West Bath and 433 in Woolwich. Bath still had 156 outages, Bowdoin had 60, Bowdoinham had 15, Georgetown had 137 and Richmond had two customers still without electricity.
Hartnett said coastal towns like Georgetown, Phippsburg and Arrowsic experienced a lot of small wire damage due to the storm, “and it does take time to patrol and fix and patrol and fix.”
It was a busy night for first responders and CMP crews in Sagadahoc County, according to the county’s Emergency Management Agency director Sarah Bennett. Across the county’s 10 towns, there were 99 calls to Sagadahoc County Communications related to the storm between 7 p.m. Monday and 5 a.m. Tuesday, according to Communications Director Tammy Shiers.
While there were still trees down and damaged wires, “those are being cleaned up super fast,” Bennett said.
Bennett said her agency tried to prepare the community for the storm, suggesting residents charge devices and check on their neighbors. There hasn’t been a need for shelters yet.
“We will do what we have to should that come up,” she said. “They can call (211) and check on sheltering around the state.”
Arthur Howe, the Emergency Management Agency director for Harpswell, said Tuesday the town had a few trees down, but nothing that would constitute a widespread outage. He said he was surprised that more trees weren’t knocked down during the storm. Warm temperatures made it easier to cope with the outages too.
“I’m really thankful it’s not February, January or March when it’s 10 or 25 degrees out,” Howe said. “This is strangely mild to have it in the high 50s or 60s on Dec. 1 but it’s the reality.”
Hartnett said outages on the west side of Harpswell along Route 123 stemmed from the transmission line damage in Brunswick. On the east side of town, power was restored but went out again.
“It’s like the trees are just shedding limbs,” she said.
Heaviest wind gusts would affect the coast more heavily, Harnett said. The damage was increased because the ground isn’t frozen yet and is saturated with rain. That caused many trees to uproot.
While crews were restoring power overnight, the emphasis was on safety and keeping roads passable, Hartnett said.
“We understand that customers need power to work and attend classes from their homes and we will continue to work around the clock to restore power as quickly as we can,” said Kerri Therriault, Director of Electric Operations for CMP. “We will shift resources to those areas that need more support as they finish up in other places.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
