LEWISTON — A winter storm pushed into Maine on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, bombarding the state with snow, ice, rain and strong wind.

The federal holiday falls on Blue Monday, the third Monday of January, often considered to be the gloomiest day of the year, more so in Maine due to coastal flooding, accidents and power outages across the state.

In Woodstock, a tractor-trailer slid off South Main Street and crashed into an apartment building. Susan Hatstat said her apartment was destroyed.

“I was in bed when it struck,” she said.

“What can you do? That’s just northern weather,” said Jorge Gonzalez, who lives with Hatstat. The two took refuge at a nearby restaurant while authorities responded. The building received significant structural damage, Hatstat said.

Snow began falling early Monday morning, eventually turning to rain in some areas. The mixture was forecast to continue into Tuesday, giving way to clear skies and a high of 21 degrees.

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According to Central Maine Power’s website, outages were high early Monday, but by the evening most customers had service restored. At about 6 p.m., Cumberland County had the most customers with outages at 1,173.

“We expect that the main brunt of precipitation and wind is over. As the storm pulls away, much colder air will work into the area,” Derek Schroeter, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said. “But we may see scattered snow showers, confined mainly to the mountains. There should be no accumulations of snow south of the mountains. Some pockets of light rain showers may appear, but for the most part, the precipitation has moved east toward New Brunswick, Canada.”

The Gray office estimated the Lewiston-Auburn area received about 6.4 inches of snow, while the most in Androscoggin County was in Poland and Livermore Falls with 6.5 inches. The highest in the state was 9.5 inches in Acton in York County.

A winter storm advisory stretching from northern North Carolina to Maine was issued early Monday by the National Weather Service. The storm, which wreaked havoc across the southern United States and claimed the lives of two people, has created major headaches for travelers. Over 1,000 flights have been canceled and states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia have declared a state of emergency.

The storm hit Maine with much less intensity than the southern states, which will continue to bear the brunt of the cold and icy conditions.

“The highest snowfall totals are expected along the spine of the Appalachians as well as across the lower Great Lakes. The most significant icing is expected over the Carolinas. Significant impacts to travel across these regions are expected,” the National Weather Service said on its website.

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