Heavy rain and strong winds toppled a 165-foot crane onto three homes in Portland, left some residents without power and riverbanks overflowing.

The construction crane at Maine Medical Center was blown down, with the wrecking ball narrowly missing a car that was headed to the hospital’s emergency room.

“The first thing I saw was the ball coming down really fast about 10 feet from us. It hit the roadway, and the rest of the crane just fell on the buildings in front of us,” said Colleen Mowatt, 48, of Gorham, whose boyfriend jammed on the brakes in the nick of time.

No one was injured when the crane struck the three multi-unit houses, one of which was vacant. Fire officials evacuated the five people who were in the two occupied buildings.

Police blocked off several streets, and Maine Medical Center rerouted traffic to the emergency room. Hospital spokesman Wayne Clark said the evacuees from the damaged buildings were being put up in a hotel.

The idle crane was at the site to put up structural steel for a new building at the hospital complex. Investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration planned to visit the scene to review the accident.

As of Sunday night, 27,600 Central Maine Power accounts were still in the dark, said spokesperson Kevin Howes. The Brunswick area was hardest hit with 14,900 outages, while Lewiston was down to 87 from a high of 2,624 recorded Sunday afternoon. Howes predicted that the Rockland and Brunswick areas could be without power until Tuesday.

CMP crews were being assisted by in-state contract crews, as well as crews from New Brunswick. According to Howes, Gov. John Baldacci declared a state of emergency Saturday night in order to make it easier for the New Brunswick crews to cross the border into Maine.

“The outages have been hard to keep up with,” Howes said. “We’re finding that as we finish restoring one area, the winds are knocking out another location.”

According to National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Sinsabaugh, wind measurements taken Saturday at 4:30 p.m. recorded a high gust of 70 mph in Cape Elizabeth. The Lewiston-Auburn area, with a high gust of 36 mph, saw mild winds in comparison to the coastal areas.

“This is a very intense storm that will keep us breezy through Monday, but the high winds have passed,” Sinsabaugh said.

The average winds were blowing between 15 and 25 mph Sunday night, he said, and the wind advisory in place was expected to be dropped as of 7 p.m.

The gusty winds responsible for power outages also brought down trees and utility poles throughout the state. Howes said 71 broken utility poles were in need of repair.

David Sargent of 636 North River Road, Auburn, had a close call when a tree in his front yard snapped under the pressure of the wind and fell into the road, instead of onto his home or car.

“The tree didn’t uproot; it actually left a stump 10 feet high,” Sargent said. “It was a lucky fall.”

The tree, which took down power lines as it fell across the street, closed down North River Road to traffic for about an hour. CMP was called to restore power while crews cut the tree with a chain saw in order to clear the roadway.

North River Road was also blocked Sunday night from Center Street to Northern Avenue as a result of flooding, according to Auburn police Lt. Tim Cougle. The portion of the road near Higgin’s Sports Center, which often floods with heavy rains, was covered with overflow from the Androscoggin River, Cougle said. The closure is indefinite and commuters can expect the road to re-open when the water recedes.

Despite the flooding of North River Road, the National Weather Service had canceled the flood warning for the Androscoggin Sunday night.

“With the exception of the Kennebec, we are seeing all other rivers and streams receding back within their banks,” Sinsabaugh said.

The Kennebec River was still above flood stage Sunday night in North Sydney, Skowhegan, and Augusta, resulting in a lingering flood warning for the river.

The heaviest rainfall totals were recorded in the upper Androscoggin watershed, with Andover coming in at 4.17 inches and Rumford at 3.34, said Sinsabaugh. Approximately 2.82 inches fell in Turner, while Poland recorded 2.94 inches.

Sinsabaugh didn’t predict anymore rain or high winds for Sunday night and Monday.

“We will experience a brief calm Monday evening before the next cold front approaches on Tuesday,” he said.

Some 18,000 households served by Bangor Hydro Electric Co. also were without power, down from a high of 28,000, with Hancock County taking the biggest hit.

Strong gusts broke several poles along the Trenton Causeway, cutting service on Mount Desert Island, and the utility said it would be at least early evening before that damage could be repaired.

David Sargent is a freelance writer whose articles frequently appear in the Sun Journal .