Two days after a powerful storm brought high winds and heavy rain to the region, power has been restored to most Harpswell homes and businesses. However, about 600 homes in Cundy’s Harbor and elsewhere remained without power as of early Wednesday evening.
Monday’s storm knocked out power to nearly all of Central Maine Power’s roughly 4,750 customers in Harpswell. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, power had been restored to all but 604 of those customers (about 13%), according to CMP’s online outage list. Earlier in the afternoon, the list had incorrectly listed only five outages in Harpswell.
Across Cumberland County, roughly 17,600 of CMP’s 176,700 customers (about 10%) still were without power, along with 160,600 of its 674,000 customers (about 24%) statewide. Roughly 45,200 of Versant Power’s 166,600 customers (about 27%) also were without power in Downeast, northern and central Maine.
CMP issued a statement Wednesday afternoon to update customers on its restoration efforts.
“Our Restoration Team is making significant progress today. As of Wednesday afternoon, we have restored power to more than 215,000 customers or about 52% of those affected by the wind/rain storm,” the utility said. “Crews and support staff from Canada and states as far away as Ohio are working with our tree and line crews in the largest restoration effort in our Company’s history.”
Maine emergency management officials said Monday’s storm was more severe than expected. Wind and rain downed countless trees and power lines across the state, cutting off power to communities and making many roads impassable.
Meanwhile, a combination of warm air and rain melted inland snowpack, causing the state’s major rivers to swell and flood several major population centers.
On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills declared a state of civil emergency for Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo and Washington counties.
“This declaration of civil emergency formalizes our all-hands-on-deck approach and ensures that every State resource is available to towns across Maine that need assistance,” the governor said in a written statement. “For example, helicopters from the Maine Forest Service are conducting general aerial assessments and helping CMP survey damage to the electricity grid so that power can be restored more quickly.”
Flood warnings remained in effect along the Androscoggin, Carrabassett, Kennebec, Penobscot and Piscataquis rivers. Portions of communities including Augusta, Hallowell, Gardiner, Lewiston and Auburn had been urged to evacuate to escape the flooding.
Have a comment or news tip? Email J. Craig Anderson at craig@harpswellanchor.org.
