CAMP ELLIS — Sand and debris is all over the roadways in Camp Ellis this morning and some streets were impassible at press time, said the city’s emergency management director.

The good news? No homes were claimed by the sea, said Saco Emergency Management Director Steve Boucouvalas. But he said there’s a lot of debris to clean up here, as well as in other parts of the city where some roads remained closed early this morning.

Boucouvalas said there are some areas in the city where broken utility poles and trees have taken out primary and secondary power lines, as well as phone and cable lines.

Widespread power outages were reported, with the bulk in York and Cumberland counties, and a Central Maine Power spokesperson said power won’t be restored to everyone by tonight.

On Kennebunk Beach at midnight, at the height of the high tide, Fire Chief Steve Nichols had just finished telling a night-time jogger she ought to get off the beach and out of the weather when a wave slammed into his GMC Yukon, he said this morning. After the wave subsided, he opened the vehicle door and the jogger was down, under the vehicle. She was not injured, Nichols said.

Nichols said he closed the beach after that mishap. He said a couple of cars were stranded on Middle Beach, but overall, Kennebunk fared fairly well in the storm. He said there was one report of a tree down on a roof that took out a skylight.

Hurricane Sandy dealt Maine a blow Monday afternoon and into the night.

“We’re getting the east side of the storm,” said Steve Harding of York County Emergency Management Agency. “It could have been so much worse.”

Tree limbs crashed down over power lines in all corners of the county. Schools were closed in Acton, Regional School Unit 57, Wells and in Saco, where Boucouvalas said the Saco Middle School was affected by a power loss.

Perhaps the biggest blow to the county was the loss of electric power to thousands of homes and businesses.

As of 8 a.m., there were 85,000 homes and businesses without electric power throughout the utility’s service area, said Central Maine Power spokesman John Carroll, with 34,500 of them in York County. At the peak of the storm, there were 48,610 York County homes and businesses in the dark, said Carroll.

The utility plans to have 1,000 workers on the ground today, including their own line crews, contracted crews from other parts of Maine and Canada, and 157 tree crews, but still, Carroll indicated all power is not expected to be restored by tonight.

“This will be a multiple-day event,” he said. “The first priority this morning will be assessing damage. We’ll make progress, but this is more than a single day’s work.”

Boucouvalas, speaking by phone on a dawn drive around Camp Ellis, said at that time, one roadway into Camp Ellis was under four feet of sand and rip rap was torn out where the sand piled up. He said there was “a lot” of sand and debris piled up in the municipal parking lot and a massive amount of debris on Eastern Avenue.

He said there was one storm-related injury ”“ when the trunk lid came crashing down on a woman who was putting groceries into her car.

Boucouvalas said there will be a lot of heavy equipment working in the area today and asked folks who don’t live in Camp Ellis to stay away.

He said he expected further issues at today’s noon high tide.

Inland, in other parts of Saco, there were some road closures this morning and the Simpson Road bridge is closed until further notice.

Biddeford Fire Capt. Jason Wheeler said there were a couple of reports of buildings damaged by tree limbs.

Wells Police, in a statement issued Monday, recommended coastal residents evacuate, including those near the waterfront, in low-lying homes and businesses east of Route 1.

In Sanford, the emergency operations center opened at noon and was soon thereafter fielding calls about downed wires and trees, said the town’s emergency management director, Ray Parent. Sanford municipal offices closed at 3 p.m. Monday.

Sanford Town Manager Steve Buck this morning said calls to the emergency center dropped off after 9 p.m. and extra call firefighters and public works officials were sent home at about 11 p.m. Buck said town officials were to meet this morning to assess any damage.

Carroll, the CMP spokesman, at 8 a.m. said Buxton had 3,508 power outages, Wells had 3,316, Saco, 2,257, Biddeford, 1,706 and Sanford, 866. Old Orchard Beach had the fewest number of outages, said Carroll, with 74.

The Maine Department of Conservation instituted a shellfish ban at midnight Monday due to heavy rains and power outages and in a news release said that decision would be evaluated sometime today.

A Buxton dispatcher this morning said an evacuation shelter at the Groveville Fire Station, 31 Turkey Lane, is expected to remain open until power is restored.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 282-1535 Ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.