Image Source:
Portable Garages And Shelters Home Depot
A motorist drives beneath a falled account pole propped up by a ache timberline limb on Aerial Arch Alley in Harpswell on Wednesday. Agents photo by Gregory Rec
Image Source:
Nearly two-thirds of Maine was afterwards ability Monday night in the after-effects of a quick but barbaric storm that acquired boundless accident throughout the state.
Roughly 484,000 barter were afterwards electricity at the acme of the outages about midday Monday. That cardinal exceeds the aiguille cardinal of outages during the celebrated Ice Storm of 1998. A backer for Central Maine Ability Co., the account that covers best of southern Maine, said it could not alike adumbrate how abounding canicule it ability booty to restore ability to everyone.
Q: How does CMP adjudge breadth to restore ability first?
A: Crews are accomplished to restore ability to places breadth it is analytical to assure activity and accumulate the association safe, such as hospitals, nursing homes, media outlets, badge and blaze stations. According to CMP’s website, one of the aboriginal priorities is acclimation accident to electrical substations that serve as broadcast credibility as ability campaign to communities throughout the region.
Crews focus on primary agriculturalist administration curve that serve abounding neighborhoods afore acclimation and abating ability to annex curve that extend from those primary feeders. The aggregation checks alone streets to acquisition and adjustment distinct band break that affect absolute neighborhoods.
Q: Back can I apprehend my ability to return?
A: CMP backer Gail Rice said the aggregation does not apprehend to accept estimated restoral times until Tuesday. The crews were alive Monday to de-energize downed ability curve first.
Those afterwards ability should analysis Central Maine Power’s website, cmpco.com, for abeyance updates, or go to the company’s Twitter or Facebook pages. Emera Maine’s website is at emeramaine.com, or analysis Emera’s Twitter feed.
Q: How abounding account crews are alive on abating power?
A: CMP backer Gail Rice said the aggregation has apprenticed for 105 two-man electrical crews to abutment several hundred CMP advisers in alertness for the outages. Additional crews from New Brunswick accept additionally been brought in, and added crews are headed to Maine from added states and Canada in the advancing days.
Q: The governor has declared a accompaniment of emergency. What does that mean?
A: A acknowledgment of a accompaniment of emergency, like the one Gov. Paul LePage alleged Monday, allows ability crews to assignment best hours than commonly acclimatized by law, to restore ability added quickly.
Q: I bought a architect for back power. How do I use it safely?
A: You should arena all carriageable generators, and anxiously apprehend and chase all instructions. Never run a architect indoors, alike in an accessible garage. Do not try to refuel a architect central or refuel a architect while it is running.
If your carbon monoxide detector goes off, get out of the architecture and alarm 911.
Q: What about added emergency calefaction or ablaze sources?
A: Accumulate fuels abroad from bonfire generated by copse stoves, fireplaces or kerosene heaters. Accomplish abiding to advertise the amplitude properly. Never use grills or afflicted stoves central because of the abeyant for alarming gases. About-face off or unplug aloft accessories so you don’t afflict the circuits back ability is restored.
Q: How do I accumulate the aliment in my refrigerator from abasement and how continued will it be safe to eat?
A: Accumulate fridges and freezers bankrupt as abundant as accessible Best aliment will aftermost 24 hours if you don’t accessible the doors, but to be safe, abandon any decaying aliment like meat, poultry, fish, eggs and assortment that accept been aloft 40 degrees for added than 2 hours. Never aftertaste aliment to see if it is safe.
Source: Central Maine Power, U.S. Department of Agriculture
“This is the better cardinal of outages in the company’s history,” CMP backer Gail Rice said in a account release. CMP was acclimatized in 1899. “It is decidedly beyond than the 1998 ice storm that bodies bethink so well.”
Early Tuesday morning, over 410,000 Maine ability barter were still in the dark.
Image Source:
CMP appear aloof afore 1 a.m. that 352,870 of its barter were afterwards electricity, including 93,926 in Cumberland County. Emera Maine appear 59,856 outages as of 1 a.m.
The storm, which produced a bank of abundant rain and abreast hurricane-force apprehension in abundant of New England, confused into Maine backward Sunday and larboard a aisle of abolition in its deathwatch afore abandonment at mid-morning Monday.
Uprooted copse fell on homes and cars, anchorage were blocked by downed ability lines, boats bankrupt chargeless of their moorings, motorists formed continued curve at gas stations and coffee shops that still had power, and cartage lights throughout Maine were not working.
Gov. Paul LePage issued a accompaniment of emergency Monday to advice account companies restore electricity as bound as accessible by allowing crews to assignment best hours than commonly acclimatized by law.
Rice said crews spent best of Monday de-energizing downed ability curve to ensure the public’s safety. Ability apology assignment will accent Tuesday, but the aggregation will not accomplish to a calendar for abating power, Rice said.
“It could booty best than a anniversary in some places,” she said, acquainted that 186 burst ability poles had been appear as of Monday afternoon.
Judy Long, backer for Emera Maine, issued a account backward Monday that said crews will assignment through the night to restore power. Alike so, “it will booty canicule to restore account to all,” she said.
The Home Depot in South Portland saw a blitz on generators afore apex Monday and awash out, a chump accessory said. Matt Harrigan, a Home Depot spokesperson, said generators are in aerial appeal in Maine and New Hampshire and its affairs and accumulation alternation teams are replenishing food as bound as possible.
The National Acclimate Account said temperatures in the arena will abatement to abreast freezing Tuesday night.
The outages appear by CMP afflicted about 64 percent of the company’s 612,000 customers. By comparison, during the Ice Storm of 1998, the aiguille cardinal of outages was estimated at 270,000, with a absolute of 360,000 barter afflicted during the advance of the storm.
Emera Maine appear about 90,000 customers, or about 57 percent of its total, were afterwards ability by apex Monday.
The storm agape out ability for about 1.5 actor homes and businesses beyond the region.
The acclimate account astrologer Nikki Becker said a access of 69 mph was recorded at the Portland International Jetport. Augusta appear a top wind access of 70 mph and a access of 71 mph was recorded in South Bristol. A access of 130 mph was appear at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, while apprehension hit 82 mph in Mashpee on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
The wind was able abundant to draft a axle barter off the Sarah Mildred Continued Bridge in Kittery and into the Piscataqua River aboriginal Monday, said Ted Talbot, a agent for the Maine Department of Transportation.
Becker said the low burden arrangement that accursed the accompaniment Monday was fueled in allotment by the debris of a close storm alleged Philippe, which formed in the Caribbean and confused arctic into the Atlantic Ocean.
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
The scattering of businesses that were still open, like the Starbucks in Falmouth, were accepted places. Bodies lined up for coffee and took turns at the ability outlets. Parents sat cross-legged on the attic abutting to outlets that powered their assignment laptops, while pre-teen accouchement ate broiled panini sandwiches and played Minecraft.
“Can I amuse use the aperture next?” a apprentice in a USM sweatshirt asked a woman who was alive on a computer propped accessible on her lap in a armchair with no table.
The woman fabricated a motion as admitting she was on the phone, and acicular to her headphones. The apprentice absolved over to accession outlet, captivated up his arbiter and acicular to his laptop. A man application that aperture to allegation his buzz befuddled his arch and acicular to a kid adjacent who said “I’m next, I’ve got a book address due.”
Carlos Sandia eventually gave up his aperture to the balked student. He and his adherent had busy a abode in Falmouth for the anniversary with affairs to go blade analytical and hiking while Sandia put the final touches on a assignment project, but the storm agape out ability to the house, abrogation them little best but to acknowledgment to Brooklyn. They were at the Starbucks to recharge their phones and book a acknowledgment flight.
“I abhorrence to lose a vacation, but what are you activity to do?” Sandia said with a shrug. “It was affectionate of adventurous for a day, with the big after-effects and all, but I can’t do a anniversary afterwards power. I can’t booty a accomplished anniversary off from assignment now.”
With the blackmail of an abeyance that could aftermost for days, curve formed Monday afternoon at the scattering of gas stations that still had ability and could pump fuel.
Image Source:
In Falmouth Monday afternoon, drivers from as far abroad as Bridgton, Hollis, Gray and Cumberland lined up eight cars abysmal at the Irving stations on Bucknam Alley to gas up their cars and home generators.
The stations are amid abutting to a blaze base and regained ability at 7:30 a.m., authoritative them the alone stations with gas accessible for miles, atrocious barter told the clerks.
Gas, coffee and ice were the big sellers Monday, abettor administrator Kitt Perry said.
“We had a lot of bodies actuality told they were activity to be out of ability for at atomic three or four days, so they came actuality to banal up,” Perry said. “Basically, it’s been appealing basics all day long.”
DROUGHT A FACTOR
In accession to the backbone of the storm, the wind direction, advancing aridity and time of year acceptable contributed to the boundless outages.
The storm came from the southeast, instead of the northeast, which is what Maine copse are acclimatized to, said Todd Robbins, a accountant arborist who is Cape Elizabeth’s timberline administrator and abettor acreage administrator of the 2,100-acre Ram Island Farm.
Many copse are attenuated afterwards months afterwards cogent rain and infestations of winter moths and added pests, he said. The accident fabricated them affected to breaking in aerial apprehension and active rain.
“We’re seeing added deciduous copse bottomward than I could anytime imagine,” Robbins said Monday. “Trees were pushed in a altered administration than they’re acclimated to. We’ve had two-plus years of aridity and again got a ton of rain. That put abundant accent on trees, abnormally earlier trees.”
‘COMPLETE CHAOS’
In Monmouth, Blaze Chief Dan Roy said “it was like a war zone, complete chaos, this morning.”
Starting about 4:30 a.m., Roy said the blaze department’s 20 or so firefighters and their four trucks went from alarm to call, administration almost 40 calls – mostly for downed copse – in four hours.
In Orono, the University of Maine had to abandon about 1,500 acceptance from their dormitories to emergency shelters because of assurance risks associated with the accident of fire-suppression systems and emergency lighting acquired by the outage.
Police in abundant towns were advancement parents not to booty their accouchement trick-or-treating Tuesday because of the accident of downed curve and blurred streets.
“We would like to admonish anybody that this is a advancement and (neither) we, nor the town, adjudge back trick-or-treating occurs. It is a affectionate decision,” Arctic Berwick badge wrote in a column on Facebook.
Wind partially rips roof of George E. Jack Elementary Academy in Standish/Staff Photographer Gregory Rec
In Standish, wind partially tore off the animate roof of George E. Jack Elementary Academy and there was some baptize accident in the building. That academy will be bankrupt all anniversary and acceptance and agents will address to Bonny Eagle Middle School.
The amphitheater at Gardiner Breadth Aerial Academy was heavily damaged by the storm Monday back allotment of the roof and blast arrangement was ripped up by the wind, abrogation a broad aperture that larboard the gym attic covered with 2 inches of water.
Schools in Portland, South Portland, Brunswick, Freeport, Wells and Sanford were amid those that bankrupt for the day, as did the University of Southern Maine, University of Maine and Southern Maine Association College.
Some were abandoning classes Tuesday, as well.
In Portland, ability had not been adequate to Lyman Moore Middle Academy as able-bodied as Lyseth, Presumpscot, Peaks and Cliff elementary schools. Academy will not be in affair at those schools Tuesday.
Maine Academy Administrative District 6, which is based in Buxton, canceled Tuesday classes because of accident acquired by the storm.
Image Source:
Several boats were broken from their moorings in Belfast Anchorage Monday morning, according to Chris Berry, a chase and accomplishment coordinator for the Coast Guard base in South Portland. Berry said a 50-foot trawler appearance amusement baiter accustomed 200 gallons of agent ammunition was broken from its ballast and “broke up” on rocks in the harbor. Several added boats in Belfast Anchorage additionally were ripped from their moorings by able winds.
The celebrated 1794 Shaker Meetinghouse in New Gloucester was hit by one of assorted copse that agitated in Shaker Village.
The acclimate account predicted that by the time the storm concluded Monday, cities and towns throughout Maine could end up with amid 1½ and 3½ inches of rain. The Carrabassett, Sandy and Kennebec rivers were accepted to flood Monday as the able storm swept through the state. The Swift River in Roxbury already had flooded, said Margaret Curtis, a astrologer with the acclimate account in Gray, and she accepted the Carrabassett and Sandy rivers to flood after Monday. The Kennebec will best acceptable flood Tuesday, she said.
The Amtrak Downeaster additionally canceled several trips Monday because of assorted copse on the tracks.
SHOPPING IN THE DARK
In Brunswick, accident was widespread, including downed copse and ability curve throughout the town.
Streetlights were out and cartage was heavy, alike admitting best businesses city were closed. The exceptions were Hannaford, which had abetting ability from a generator, and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Inside Hannaford, shoppers best up items in fractional darkness. No algid items or aftermath were available, and the bottled baptize awash out by 11 a.m.
Hannaford agent Eric Blom said none of the added than 60 Hannaford locations in Maine was closed. The aggregation has procedures to restock shelves during acute weather, decidedly for high-demand items like bottled water, batteries and bread, Blom said.
“There are account and acclimation processes to accomplish abiding annihilation that gets low in banal will be reordered quickly,” he said.
Areas of the midcoast additionally were aged by the apprehension and rains, abrogation some aloft anchorage at atomic briefly blocked by collapsed copse or ability lines.
Route 27 in Edgecomb was bottomward to one lane – a addled accept – because a massive ache timberline was aptitude beyond the road, accurate alone by ability lines. One of the added primary anchorage into Boothbay, River Alley out of Newcastle, was blocked absolutely by two ample copse aural a few hundred yards of anniversary other.
On adjacent Route 1 in Newcastle, cars were stacking up six- and seven-deep in two lanes Monday afternoon to ample up at Mike’s Place, one of the alone accessibility food in the Damariscotta breadth still pumping gas. Inside, the band of barter cat-and-mouse to pay for gas, snacks, drinks or slices of hot pizza snaked about the baby abundance at times, but no one was complaining.
Ben Welch, who co-owns the abundance with his son Mike, said the architect had been bustling back 5 a.m., although a annihilate periodically affected him to about-face the apparatus off and on to accumulate the abstract flowing.
“They’ve been lined up back 6 a.m.,” Welch said of the cars cat-and-mouse to use one of Mike’s Place’s four gas pumps.
Scarborough Blaze Chief Michael Thurlow said dispatchers, aboriginal responders and accessible works crews handled hundreds of calls for copse and affairs bottomward throughout town.
“Unfortunately this is activity to be an continued effort,” Thurlow said in a Facebook post.
Staff Writers Dennis Hoey, Noel Gallagher, Mary Pols, Kelley Bouchard, Ray Routhier, Kevin Miller, Penny Overton, Peter McGuire and Eric Russell contributed to this report.
Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:
[email protected]
Twitter: grahamgillian
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source:
Image Source: