A plow turns onto Perkins Ridge Road in Auburn while clearing the heavy wet snow Saturday morning. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

The state’s first widespread snowstorm cut power to tens of thousands of residents Friday and Saturday and dumped up to 2 feet of heavy, wet snow in interior sections of Maine.

Snow totals were far lower along the coast, where 3-4 inches fell in most areas, according to the National Weather Service.

The Portland International Jetport had received about 4.2 inches from Friday to Saturday afternoon as the storm was winding down, Stephen Barron, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gray, said Saturday. Locke Mills in Oxford County and Rangeley received the state’s highest totals by Saturday afternoon, a whopping 24 inches, according to the weather service.

A woman working at the Sunday River Brewing Co. in Bethel said the region went from bare ground Friday morning to all-white Saturday with 22 inches of snow or more. “It’s a little excessive,” she said. “The town was in a standstill this morning.”

Oxford County had the highest number of power outages. As of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, 21,766 of 42,432 Central Maine Power customers in Oxford County were without electricity. In York and Cumberland counties, more than 20,000 customers were without power, and 13,306 outages were reported in Androscoggin County.

In all, approximately 108,700 Central Maine Power customers lost power, with most of the outages in western and northern Maine, said spokeswoman Catharine Hartnett. By 5 p.m. Saturday CMP had restored about 43,000 households, but nearly 65,000 remained without power as the storm left Maine.

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Because of the storm’s heavy snow and duration, some customers experienced second outages after having power restored, Hartnett said.

“The wet, heavy snow has really loaded up the trees. Many of them have fallen and taken out power,” she said Saturday afternoon. In some parts of interior Maine roads had not yet been plowed – “we can’t get there to even assess the damage,” Hartnett said.

There were 200 CMP crews, 220 contractors and 230 tree workers on the job Saturday, Hartnett said, “and we are adding 90 additional contractors this afternoon to get to work. We’ll be out there all night.”

A worker clears snow Saturday from the entrance walkway to the Hathaway Creative Center in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

In some cases, restoring power will take several days, said Kerri Therriault, CMP’s senior director of electric operations.

Given the travel and challenges of reaching power lines, along with the extensive damage from tree limbs weighing down lines, “this will be a multiple day restoration, and some customers may be out of power until late Monday or even Tuesday in some of the hardest hit, remote areas,” Therriault said in a statement.

To report outages and track restoration times, go here.

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In northern Maine, 1,189 of 165,404 Versant Power customers were without electricity as of 5:40 p.m. Saturday, according to the company’s outage list.

Snowfall totals varied widely, the weather service said.

“It was a classic nor’easter with heavy snow bands in the state,” Barron said. As of Saturday afternoon, Cape Elizabeth had received only a half inch of snow, while Lewiston had received 8.7 inches, the weather service said.

Other totals include: Augusta, 9.3 inches; Turner, 15 inches; and New Vineyard, 23 inches.

A car that slid off Shaker Hill Road in Alfred rests on its side Friday afternoon as wet, heavy snow from a nor’easter made for treacherous road conditions. State police on the scene said the driver was not injured. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The speed limit was reduced to 45 miles per hour from Exit 53 in Falmouth to the end of the Maine Turnpike at mile 109 Saturday afternoon because of snow, according to the Maine Turnpike Authority.

Public safety agencies were kept busy Friday and Saturday responded to numerous vehicle crashes, including tractor-trailer accidents that closed roads. No fatalities or serious injuries had been reported to state police by Saturday afternoon, said Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Some motorists appeared to be heeding police advice against driving during the storm, but “there were still a good number of cars on the road,” Moss said.

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There were numerous crashes Friday night and early Saturday in Portland, said police Lt. Robert Doherty. Bad weather, slick road conditions and motorists’ inexperience with winter driving contributed to crashes, he said.

“The first few storms it seems like there’s a high volume of crashes as people fail to navigate winter conditions,” he said. When daylight hit and city crews cleared the roads down to the pavement, “the volume of crashes subsided,” he said. There are no serious injuries reported in Portland, Doherty said.

Throughout rural Maine, several roads were closed because of accidents. One was closed in Greene after a tractor-trailer rolled over and blocked the road. Another road in Wales was closed after a crash took out a utility pole, according to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office.

The snow had ended in Portland by Saturday afternoon, but interior regions were expected to get several more inches, Barron said.

The forecast calls for temperatures low enough to keep the snow around for a few more days in most areas, but they might climb high enough for some melting along the coast.

Chances for a white Christmas are looking up, Barron said. Another storm is expected to arrive Thursday, but whether it will be rain or snow isn’t yet clear, he said.

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