Central Maine Power crews are working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers a day after Tropical Storm Isaias blew through Maine.
The storm moved into Maine around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, bringing strong winds that downed trees and knocked out power.
Gusts of more than 40 mph were recorded in Portland. A new peak wind gust for August was recorded on Mount Washington of 147 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
By late Tuesday night, more than 91,000 Central Maine Power Co. customers had lost power. Crews worked through the night to assess the damage, but repairs were slowed because the winds were too strong to allow crews to go up in bucket trucks, according to a company spokesperson.
Cumberland County was the hardest hit, with more than 27,000 outages Tuesday night. CMP reported about 20,000 customers remained without power Wednesday morning. Most of Freeport remains without power. Large outages are also reported in New Gloucester and Naples.
Paul Rudenberg of Falmouth drags his dingy onto the docks at Falmouth Town Landing on Tuesday afternoon while preparing for the storm. “I lost one a couple years ago in a bigger storm”, he said. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
York County had 23,120 outages Wednesday morning. All of CMP’s customers in Limerick and Newfield are without power, while Limington, Lebanon, Waterboro and Acton also reported widespread outages.
Androscoggin County reported more than 7,400 customers were without power at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday.
CMP had 100 crews working throughout the night to assess damage and restore power. They were assisted by 90 contracted line workers, including 20 from New Brunswick, and 100 tree crews.
A fisherman paddles to Falmouth Town Landing after mooring his boat with the storm approaching on Tuesday afternoon. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
CMP will begin posting estimated restoration times on its website as soon as they are available, spokesperson Catharine Hartnett said. Crews may be moved down from other parts of the state to help with repairs in Cumberland and York counties, which saw the most damage from severe winds, she said.
Hartnett said much of the damage was caused by large trees that fell across roads, taking down power lines. Those trees are typically outside of the company’s trimming zone, she said.
Forecasters grew concerned Tuesday afternoon after radar showed that some of the more intense rain bands were beginning to rotate, an indication that the storm might produce isolated tornadoes in western Maine and southern New Hampshire, but none were reported in Maine, according to the weather service.
The weather service is investigating reports of a funnel cloud in western New Hampshire.
This story will be updated.
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