BANGOR – Heavy rain and wind gusts ripped through the state Monday night and throughout the day Tuesday, knocking down trees and leaving many residents without power.
“We saw more than 16,000 outages at the peak on Tuesday morning, and we’re still experiencing more than 10,000 outages as of early in the afternoon on Tuesday,” said Judy Long, communications manager for Versant Power. “But, as the storm continues we do expect those numbers will go up and down a little bit.”
Long said these fall storms are always concerning.
“A lot of heavy rain, which can make the ground saturated, cause trees to topple more frequently,” Long said. “We also worry any time the winds are reaching or exceeding 60 miles an hour because that can bring down trees and branches onto lines and coupled with the flooding concerns.”
Due to the continuing conditions of heavy rain and wind, Long said it’s hard to estimate when power will be fully restored.
“It will extend at least into Wednesday because of the continuing damage that we’re seeing,” Long said. “Our crews are facing some really challenging conditions with the heavy rain and a lot of darkness and the strong winds, and some of the repairs may not be able to be completed while the winds are continuing to blow this strongly.”
Bangor Public Works Director Aaron Huotari said this storm could have been worse.
“Overnight, as the rain started to come in, we had crews out during the evening pulling branches out of the road, making sure the roads are clear, clearing some drains as well,” he said. “This morning, we had several crews and still do cleaning up trees where they’re safe to do so.”
Long urges people to report power outages, downed wires and trees as soon they can.
