A woman and her granddaughter died trying to walk across a flooded road in Lebanon on Monday while people in most areas of Maine contended with wet basements, high winds and power outages as a result of a lingering storm.

Authorities said 50-year-old Donna Dube of Lebanon and her 4-year-old granddaughter, Saphire Perro, of Manchester, N.H., were trying to cross a flooded section of the Little River when they were overcome by the current.

In an attempt to get to their home, they were crossing the flooded area and were swept into the river at approximately 1 p.m., according to Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife spokesman Mark Latti. A witness, 40-year-old George Eliason of Lebanon, went into the water to try to save them, and all three were swept downstream.

Game wardens were able to get a boat into the Little River, locate the three victims, and pull them into the boat. The victims were then taken to Goodall Hospital in Sanford, where Dube and Perro were pronounced dead. Eliason was treated for hypothermia and released, Latti said.

While forecasters had predicted snow, the wrath of the storm came, instead, in the form of wind and rain, elements which conspired to wreak havoc across the region into Monday night.

By mid-Monday, wind gusts of up to 81 mph had been measured in coastal areas. By late afternoon, 4 inches of rain had fallen in southern parts of the state while just over 3 inches had dropped in Lewiston and surrounding areas.

Poland measured 4 inches of rainfall, while 5 inches were recorded in Brunswick.

By afternoon, more than 125,000 Central Maine Power customers were in the dark as tree limbs came crashing down under heavy winds. Most outages were in the Brunswick and Portland areas.

By 10 p.m. crews had made progress but power was still out to more than 119,000 CMP customers, 377 in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

“The strong winds from this storm have already done tremendous damage to the power system in southern Maine and the Midcoast, and with high winds expected to continue through today, things will likely get worse before they get better,” said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice.

A warming shelter was opened in Paris for Oxford County residents who might be without power and heat. Another in Androscoggin County was opened at the town hall in Sabattus, but by Monday night, no one had come in seeking help.

Joanne Potvin, director of the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency, said Monday night that she was told the Androscoggin River was expected to peak at 15.9 feet in Auburn before receding.

“That really doesn’t pose major problems in Androscoggin County,” Potvin said. Serious flooding normally doesn’t occur until the river reaches 17 feet, she said.

By nightfall, winds had eased and the heavy rainfall was reduced to sprinkles around Androscoggin County.

“We’re down to a light drizzle,” Potvin said.

The plight of people throughout Maine was not unnoticed in the nation’s capital. U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, offered to help those who were without power and heat in any way she was able.

“This powerful storm follows in the path of another recent spring storm, delivering a one-two punch that has brought significant hardship to Maine,” said Snowe.

Many basements flooded and in some areas water washed over roads. In Lewiston and Auburn, some roads were briefly closed as power crews responded to downed power lines.

A section of outer Sabattus Street in Lewiston was washed over in the late afternoon, and Gayton Road, off Lisbon Street, was also under water at about 4 p.m. In Greene, Lane Road was beneath nearly a foot of water Monday afternoon. Bowdoinham Road in Sabattus was closed due to flooding at dinnertime, as were Empire Road and White Oak Hill in Poland.

The roads were cleared by Monday evening.

While most power outages were reported in areas to the south, 2,500 people in the Lewiston-Auburn area were without electricity by the middle of the day. That number had been reduced to about 1,435 by the supper hour, and all but 377 CMP customers had power restored by 10 p.m.

“When the power goes out, it gets a little tricky,” said Lewiston police Sgt. Jeff Parshall. “The streetslights go out and we have to get public works out there. People will drive right through intersections when the traffic lights are out, and that’s obviously dangerous.”

Traffic and street lights along Sabattus Street were out Monday afternoon as a result of weather-related outages. Power to that area was restored a short time later.

In Auburn late Monday afternoon, sections of Riverside Drive closest to the Androscoggin River were washed out. A section of Route 4 near Maple Hill Road was also under water due to the rising lake.

Police predicted washouts would cause problems later in the evening or today.

“There are going to be a lot of people trying to drive through those areas, and their vehicles are going to drown out and break down,” said Auburn police Lt. James Robicheau.

Meguire Hill Road in Poland was closed early Monday afternoon due to downed wires, according to Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department. Portions of Routes 117 and 121 in Oxford County were also closed due to flooding.

The flood warnings for the Androscoggin River were issued just after noon, as the river was expected to hit flood stage after midnight, ultimately rising to 16 feet by Wednesday morning.

“That’s 3 feet above flood stage,” said Michael Cempa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray. “That’s still considered minor flooding.”

Flood warnings for smaller streams were issued for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties earlier in the day. Smaller waterways usually flood first, with larger rivers responding more gradually, according to the National Weather Service. The agency advised people never to cross a road that is flooded, cautioning that the water is usually deeper than it appears. Just a foot of flowing water is powerful enough to sweep a vehicle off the road.

In the Portland area, shingles or entire roofs blew off homes in gusting winds. In more central and western Maine, it was mostly the amount of rainfall causing problems.

After they were sent out on a handful of rescues Monday, game wardens were advising people to use extreme caution around flooded areas, and to stay out of the water.

“Although high-water conditions are alluring to whitewater kayakers and canoeists, these recent floods have deposited an untold number of obstacles into waterways. Conditions are extremely treacherous, and people need to stay off the water,” said Maj. Gregg Sanborn of the Maine Warden Service.

Weather officials said the coastal storm system stalled off New York, continuing to bring rain and snow to New England. Wet weather was forecast to continue into Wednesday, although winds were expected to diminish.

For CMP crews, the storm marked another round of problems in an already troublesome April. Earlier this month, more than 100,000 homes and businesses in Maine and more than 80,000 in New Hampshire were left without power after storms brought in heavy, wet snow.

On Monday, CMP was using tree crews and outside contractors as they struggled to get customers back online. They were also seeking help from utility crews in other states.

In Lewiston, police Sgt. Parshall was remaining optimistic, even with foul weather in the forecast for most of the week.

“If this had been snow instead of rain,” Parshall said, “it would have been a lot worse.”