JAY — Line crews worked Monday to restore power to the on the eastern part of town after high winds uprooted trees that landed on power lines and tipped over a utility pole early Sunday evening.

Five, large ash trees were knocked down on Plaisted Road in East Jay, about 1 mile from Route 133, Central Maine Power Co. Supervisor Gerry Norton said Monday.

He was at the site with K-Line Construction of Woodstock, New Brunswick, one of several companies assisting with restoring power lines.

The trees went down at about 6:30 p.m.

Reports of trees on wires and knocked down lines and power outages were made throughout the region.

Diana Gray of Jay said she and her family were watching television between 5 and 6 p.m. Sunday at their home on Lavoie Street when a “huge gust of wind” caused a tree limb to come down on a power line at the neighbor’s house across the street.

It started to spark and smoke and then flames were showing before it exploded, she said. A second explosion followed and knocked out power.

It sounded like fireworks blowing up, she said. Tree limbs, leaves and other remnants fell and left quite a mess in the neighbor’s yard, Gray said.

“It was something else,” she said. “I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”

Jay police Detective Richard Caton said the transformer ended up blowing up on Lavoie Street.

There was some flooding Sunday after Sevenmile Stream went over Route 17 in the Morse Hill Flats area in North Jay. He said there was about 6 inches of water in the road. The road was shut down from 2 to 3 hours until the water receded, he said. It was re-opened at about 9 p.m., Caton said.

Rangeley police Chief Dennis Leahy said that his area made out “pretty good” compared to Carrabassett Valley where bridges were knocked out.

A couple of trees landed on lines and knocked out power.

There was minor flooding with minor damage after a couple of catch basins couldn’t handle the water flow.

Strong Fire Department engineer Aaron Marden said firefighters cleaned up downed trees to keep roads open.

“We did real well as far as roads are concerned,” he said.

Firefighters worked through the night to patrol the area and monitor water levels in between working on downed trees.

In Livermore Falls, reports of trees on power lines or lawns, and trees knocked down blocking roadways about 2:45 p.m. Sunday, police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said. He is also the town’s emergency management director.

In the midst of the storm, there was a report of a couple of kids in the Pine Ridge trailer park knocking down dead trees onto power lines.

Regional School Unit 73 in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls postponed the first day back for teachers until Tuesday due to the storm.

School starts Wednesday, Aug. 31, for students in the district in kindergarten through grade 12.

dperry@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link