FARMINGTON – Strong winds knocked out power Friday to nearly 40,000 businesses and homes with about half of them in the Farmington area. Some emergency shelters were prepared to open in case they were needed.

Central Maine Power Co. had restored power to about 13,000 of its customers by noon.

The western mountains area was the hardest hit with 19,200 of the power company’s customers in the Farmington Service Center area without power as of mid-day

Central Maine Power Co. spokeswoman Gail Rice said there are going to be parts of the Farmington area, especially in the rural areas, that are not expected to get power restored until Saturday night.

While the company hoped to restore power to most customers by Friday night, the extreme damage, coupled with continued strong winds, could make for slow going in some areas, power company spokesman John Carroll stated in a release.

“The severity of the damage and continued strong, gusty winds mean there will be some customers who will be without service into Saturday,” Carroll said. “The good news is that winds are expected to abate considerably after sunset and allow our crews to make better progress. We appreciate customers’ patience as our crews continue this major repair effort.”

About 200 customers from the power company’s Lewiston service center and 900 from its Bridgton center were also without power as of late Friday afternoon.

Additional outages were reported in Augusta, Brunswick, Dover, Fairfield, Portland, Rockland/Belfast and Skowhegan.

Customers in parts of Skowhegan, Dover and Bridgton districts were also likely to be without service into Saturday, according to Carroll.

The power company had about 97 line crews, 33 tree crews and many additional people working to restore power.

“We are still urging people to stay away from downed power lines, added Carroll. “Customers should also exercise care when using alternative heating and cooking sources, generators and candles.”

Gusts of winds in some places in Franklin County exceed-

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