LISBON — A Bowdoin mother is being credited with saving the lives of herself and her young daughter after a utility pole, transformer and live wires fell onto her car Sunday during Tropical Storm Irene.

Officer Ryan McGee of the Lisbon Police Department commended Kathleen Alexander, 48, for her actions after the pole fell onto the car she was driving; her 8-year-old daughter was in the front passenger seat. Both mother and daughter escaped injury.

McGee said Alexander was eastbound on Gould Road heading toward Main Street in Lisbon Falls shortly after noon Sunday when a tree fell onto power lines during a gust of wind caused by the storm. The weight of the tree snapped two utility poles, and one of the poles with a transformer and live wires attached crashed onto the rear portion of her car, blowing out two rear windows and crushing the rear roof and trunk.

McGee said Alexander had the presence of mind not to leave the car when she realized live wires were on the roof. She used her cellphone to call police, and the pair remained in the car f0r about 20 minutes until crews from Central Maine Power Co. arrived and cut the power.

They were “extremely lucky,” McGee said, adding that there was no doubt in his mind that there would have been a tragic outcome had they attempted to leave the car.

Alexander’s 2002 Ford Focus was considered a total loss.

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