WESTBROOK – After holding a collective breath all day, area residents are sighing with relief after Tropical Storm Irene, which blew through on Sunday, proved to have more bluster than bite.

“It was good to be a little bit disappointed with what Irene brought us,” said Westbrook Public Safety Director Michael Pardue.

But prior to Irene’s arrival, the city was ready, opening its emergency operations center in a training room at the public safety complex at 7 a.m. Sunday. The city also closed East Bridge Street “just to minimize potential risk” from 11 a.m. Sunday until Monday morning.

Greg Hamilton, the city’s emergency management director, said the state Department of Transportation has been working on replacing the Little Bridge there, and created a temporary roadway around it on East Bridge Street.

“The temporary roadway was below grade, and they knew the amount of rainfall predicted for that area would make that impassible,” Hamilton said.

But the expected rainfall and flooding didn’t happen. The Presumpscot River, Pardue said, did rise 51?2 feet to a total crest of 9 feet, but that is well below the river’s flood stage, which is approximately 19-21 feet.

Hamilton, who also serves as the city’s director of communications, said Tuesday that he did not have an exact tally of storm-related calls to the department over the weekend, but said there were far fewer than anyone expected.

“We’ve had more when a microburst has gone through,” he said.

Pardue said there were no serious injuries reported, and the only major concern was power. The storm knocked out service to thousands of customers throughout the state. Pardue said at the height of the storm, 31 streets throughout the city were without power, but as of 8 p.m. Monday, all electricity had been restored.

The city did open Westbrook High School as a temporary shelter to residents who had lost power. Pardue said at the height of the storm, 32 people were staying at the shelter.

“After the storm had subsided, we ensured the occupants of the shelter’s homes had power,” he said.

Police gave some residents a free ride home, including one family carrying a goldfish, which Pardue said was named “Bubbles.”

“Aside from that, damage was very minimal,” Pardue said.

Irene gave Sandra Vacchiano, who lives at 18 Bernadette St., a big scare at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I was sitting in my living room and I heard this horrific sound,” she said.

After running outside, she said she found a tree, which was more than 50 feet tall, had been uprooted, and was on top of her house.

“The wind blew it over, and it landed right smack on our roof,” she said.

But Monday afternoon, family and friends had removed the tree and cut it up into pieces. Vacchiano said she was pleased to see that there appeared to be no damage to her roof at all.

Pardue said things had returned mostly to normal by 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

Other area communities reported similar levels of damage. Robert Burns, director of Gorham Public Works, said Tuesday that the storm toppled trees and downed power lines closing a number of roads in town. The storm shut down New Portland Road, a heavily utilized commuter road, but it had re-opened by Monday evening. However, Wood Road was still closed early Tuesday to through traffic as utility crews dealt with the power outage on the rural road.

David Pinkham, director of Buxton Public Works, said Tuesday the town had a handful of road closings. Pinkham said Buxton sustained mostly tree damage but no road damage. “We’re pretty good here,” Pinkham said.

Lt. Chris Sanborn of Gorham Police Department said Tuesday this week’s storm was pretty uneventful and there were no injuries. “We were fortunate it broke up before it got here,” Sanborn said.

Burns said Gorham received 2.2 inches of rain from Irene, so flooding was non-existent.

But early Monday, Central Maine Power customers on 100 roads and streets in Gorham had no power. As of Tuesday at 7:45 a.m. utility crews were still dealing with 36 Gorham roads with power outages.

Buxton had 99 streets and roads with power outages at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Dale Pierce of Towle Street in the Bar Mills section of Buxton said Tuesday his power was out for 25 hours.

“It’s never been out that long,” Pierce said as he recalled storms in recent years.

Irene spoiled an opening day for a new school. Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp said the storm did not damage schools, but school was canceled Monday and the opening of the new Great Falls Elementary School was delayed one day. All Gorham schools opened Tuesday, Sharp said.

Robert Caswell, a spokesman for the University of Southern Maine, said Tuesday no significant damage was reported on the Gorham campus. He said the admissions office on Route 25 experienced a power outage but was restored by early Monday morning.

University classes got under way Monday as scheduled.

“Compared to a lot of places it was a smooth opening to the academic year,” Caswell said.

An On Target Utility Services crew works among trees Tuesday to
restore electrical power on Gorham’s Wood Road, which was closed to
through traffic. (Staff photo by Robert Lowell)