A branch punctured the roof of Midcoast Humane’s mobile animal hospital at some point Tuesday morning. Courtesy of Midcoast Humane
Midcoast Humane’s mobile surgical unit sustained severe damage at the animal shelter’s Brunswick Range Road facility as a windstorm swept through the area Tuesday morning.
The storm brought down trees as well as live wires, and a branch punctured the roof of the mobile unit, a van where all of the organization’s surgeries and medical assessments are performed.
“We use it all day every day, so that is a real devastating blow,” said Community Programs Manager Kate Griffith. “We’re recovering as quickly as we can, all the animals are safe and all the people are safe and that’s what really matters.”
Griffith said that they have set up a makeshift surgical center for the time being, and while not ideal, they are still able to perform the scheduled surgeries.
Midcoast Humane has two campuses, one in Brunswick and one Edgecomb.
According to Griffith the mobile surgical van allows them to travel in between the two locations and also helps with access to more rural locations for vaccination and neutering clinics.
The state of the art van originally cost $238,000 and the cost of the damages has not yet been determined, Griffith said.
Midcoast Humane is one of the largest animal shelters in Maine and, according to their website, they provide care to about 3,500 animals every year.
On Tuesday The Times Record reported that The National Weather Service recorded sustained winds of 20-30 mph in the southern Midcoast area.
Central Maine Power said in a press release Wednesday that the windstorm that began Monday night and continued into Tuesday reached gusts of over 60 mph, taking down trees and damaging utility poles.
The storm knocked out power for more than 90,000 of the company’s 655,314 customers.
As of Wednesday afternoon, only 11 customers in Cumberland County remain without power, however, roughly 6,400 customers are still experiencing the outages statewide.
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