Washington Street in downtown Bath was flooded Wednesday morning. Courtesy of Bath Police Department
A wet, wind-whipped storm flooded roads and knocked out power to thousands across the Midcoast Wednesday morning — and weather officials warned a similar storm is on the way this weekend.
Brunswick, Bath and Harpswell were especially hard-hit. The storm knocked out power to about a quarter of Brunswick and half of Harpswell Wednesday morning. Scattered outages remained early Wednesday night; Central Maine Power estimated power would be restored later in the night. In Phippsburg, 521 people, or about one quarter of customers, were without power but most had been restored by 6 p.m.
Woodside Elementary School in Topsham was closed Wednesday due to a power outage, while all Wiscasset schools were closed. Many other schools in the area had delayed openings. The storm whipped up 60 mph winds that toppled trees and power lines.
Parts of several roads in downtown Bath were closed Wednesday morning due to flooding, and parts of Route 1 in Woolwich and Route 127 in Arrowsic also flooded. Flooding was especially severe due to unusually high temperatures nicking 50 degrees that melted about a foot of snow covering the region from a storm over the weekend.
Bath police said two drivers attempted to plow through flooded roads but got stuck and their vehicles had to be towed.
“Please, do not drive through standing water if you’re not sure of the depth or your vehicle’s capabilities,” police said in a social media post.
More flooding was expected late Wednesday night during the next high tide, and icy roads were a risk, as temperatures were expected to drop below freezing. Thursday and Friday will be sunny, with highs near 40 degrees and lows in the mid-20s.
Additional flooding and power outages are possible this weekend. The National Weather Service issued a weather alert for the Midcoast, forecasting a similar, though likely less severe storm featuring rain, strong winds and unusually high temperatures near 50 degrees Saturday morning. Tides will reach their peak for the month this weekend, compounding flooding risks.
“Coastal flooding impacts from flooding and beach erosion may occur around the time of the noon high tide on Saturday,” the weather service said.
A dusting of snow is in the forecast Monday night into Tuesday.
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