LEWISTON — A raucous storm plowed through the region Thursday, leaving tree limbs dangling from power lines, roads closed and thousands of people without power.

Systemwide, roughly 1,500 Central Maine Power Company customers were still without power by mid-morning Friday. Fifty-nine of those customers were in Auburn, said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice. She said all of those custumers should have power restored by late afternoon.

The thunderstorm blasted its way through the Twin Cities at about 4:30 p.m., hitting some areas with devastating force while leaving others unscathed.

Particularly hard-hit were the neighborhoods around Lake Street in Auburn, where a tree fell on the roof of a Wedgewood Road house and another crashed onto the power lines over Granite Street.

Hours after the storm hit, nearly 5,000 homes and businesses were without power in Androscoggin County. Another 20,000 were out in other areas of the state after a battering of rain and heavy wind.

Central Maine Power Co. crews were out in full force and were expected to be on the job into Friday morning. Weather experts said all indications were that the damage was the result of direct winds — up to 53 mph in some places — and no tornadoes.

At the start of it, police and fire crews rushed to Webster Street in Lewiston where a tree was blown into the side of a house.

Just before 5 p.m., Denis Davis looked out the window of his 68 Webster St. home to see police, firefighters and reporters looking over his yard. At the side of his two-story house, a tree had been blown down just as the storm was gathering intensity.

“I had no idea this happened,” Davis said. “I never heard a thing.”

It was the second tree on his property lost to the weather. In the 1970s, Davis said, one came crashing down during what was later identified as a mini-tornado.

Across the street from Davis’ home, another tree came down just as emergency crews were arriving. That one took down a set of power lines as it fell, knocking out power to nearby homes.

Elsewhere in Lewiston, lightning reportedly struck somewhere in the area of the armory on Central Avenue. Other lightning strikes were reported in the area of Randall and Old Greene roads.

There were no reports of injuries caused by the strikes. In fact, three hours after the storm began, police said they had not received reports of injuries.

In Auburn, luck might have had something to do with it. At 15 Wedgewood Road, a tree about as thick as a utility pole toppled onto a house. But the tree only managed to fall a few feet before it was stopped by the peak of the two-story house, where it remained hours later.

Neighbors said they did not believe anyone was home when that tree fell. A few yards away, a second, much larger tree had been ripped from the ground, roots and all. There was apparently nobody nearby when it fell.

By dusk, a few knots of people stood milling around, looking over the damage and comparing notes.

 “That’s one thing about a storm like this,” said a man named Tom, who said he did not get home until the storm was over. “It gets you out socializing.”

Around the corner on Granite Street, a massive tree came down in segments. Some pieces landed on power lines, others on the nearby grass. The top of the tree landed in the roadway, effectively blocking traffic.

By 7 p.m., men with chain saws were cutting up the downed tree on Granite Street, but power remained out across the neighborhood. CMP trucks went from street to street, but it was not known how soon the power would be back on.

Auburn police throughout the early evening had to contend with traffic problems as lights went out along Court Street. Public Works crews quickly put up temporary stop signs, but by nightfall, traffic was still moving sluggishly through the busiest intersections.

With power out, some bars, stores and other businesses along Court Street closed early rather than waiting for the the lights to come back on. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department was still on emergency backup power in the early evening.

In Gray, National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Roberts said a fast-moving cold front was behind all the chaos.

“It really made for some accelerated winds,” Roberts said.

He said the Thursday afternoon storm may be a sign of things to come.

“We seem to be in the track for storms right now,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”

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