AUGUSTA (AP) – Trees in soil left saturated by days of rain were uprooted Friday when high winds hit the state, knocking down power lines and leaving thousands of Mainers without electric service.

Central Maine Power Co. said it had restored power by Friday afternoon to the bulk of the 13,000 customers who had experienced outages earlier in the day. Most of those affected were in the Skowhegan, Dover-Foxcroft and Brunswick areas.

Days of rain and drizzle were accompanied by high winds and unseasonably warm temperatures ranging as high as 64 degrees in Augusta, and 63 in Caribou and Bangor on Friday. The weather service posted advisories warning of wind gusts up to 55 mph in some areas.

In addition to uprooting several trees, six utility poles were broken by the powerful wind, CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said. The Maine Emergency Management Agency said outages were also reported in Hancock County.

Flood watches remained in effect as the rain began to work its way out of the state toward the Canadian Maritime provinces. The National Weather Service in Gray posted flood watches in western Maine from Fryeburg to Carrabassett Valley, and also in central and mid-coastal parts of the state.

The strong winds were expected to die down late Friday afternoon and give way to clearing and cooler temperatures as the weekend arrives. But forecasters said temperatures could approach the 70s Friday if the clouds make way for the sun.

While the flood watch remained in effect, MEMA duty officer Mark Belserene said ponding in low-lying areas where rain had saturated the soil was more of a problem than rivers and streams spilling over their banks.

“The rivers and streams that usually flood seem to be holding their own,” Belserene said.

A powerful storm system that brought heavy rain up the East Coast Thursday was blamed for multiple deaths in other states. Forecasters said the rain would clear out from west to east as a cool front moves through for the weekend, with high temperatures in the 40s to near 50 for Saturday.