Heavy winds knocked out power lines and felled trees as Hurricane Sandy came through the area Monday, but a much less-than-expected rainfall eliminated the threat of flooding. Sandy left thousands in Maine without power and as of Tuesday evening, 386 Central Maine Power customers in Westbrook, 2,524 in Buxton and 957 customers in Gorham were still without power.

As communities begin the cleanup from the storm, officials praised the efforts of public safety personnel and expressed their relief that Sandy wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

“We didn’t have too many issues,” said Westbrook Public Services Director Tom Eldridge, adding that Methodist Road was the hardest-hit area in the city. He said a “fairly large tree” had fallen, taking down power lines, though all repairs were completed by Tuesday evening.

Eldridge added that a lighter rainfall helped alleviate any flooding issues in the city, including keeping the churning Presumpscot River within its banks.

The biggest problem caused by the storm was power outages. There were widespread power outages in Westbrook, beginning in the late afternoon hours.

“At the peak we had about 4,000 (CMP) subscribers who were out, and that’s about half of the subscriber base in the city,” said Westbrook Public Safety Chief Michael Pardue.

“We came through OK,” Pardue said. “Methodist Road was perhaps our hardest-hit area (with) downed lines and trees down.”

It reopened Tuesday at 5 p.m.

In Gorham, Public Works Director Robert Burns said some members of his crew worked throughout the night Monday clearing away downed trees and limbs. Burns said as many as nine roads had been closed in town, but all except a part of Sebago Lake Road had re-opened by late Tuesday afternoon.

In Buxton on Wednesday morning, Police Chief Michael Grovo said Flaggy Meadow Road remained closed, but Chicopee, Simpson and Mary Jane roads each had one lane open.

Both Pardue and Eldridge praised Central Maine Power’s efforts to quickly restore power to Westbrook and the surrounding area.

“I’ve never seen so many CMP crews around,” Eldridge said. “It was good to see.”

“I can’t say enough about how quickly Central Maine Power moved to try to restore power, well before the storm even subsided,” Pardue said. “And that was very helpful to get people back online as quickly as they could.”

Pardue said the hardest-hit areas when it came to power outages in Westbrook were on Main Street from City Hall to Mechanic Street, William Clarke Drive and Stroudwater Street.

“For the severity of the storm, I would have to say that we came through it pretty darn well,” Pardue said. “The public safety and public services departments just worked really well together, and addressed things quickly”

There was only one storm-related injury in Westbrook, Pardue said. A Westbrook firefighter, Lt. Don Trafford, suffered minor injuries while responding to a report of downed power lines. Pardue said a part that held the line to the pole broke loose and shattered the windshield of a fire truck and Trafford got some glass into his eye. Pardue said Trafford was treated at the scene, suffering no serious injuries and would be back to work in “a couple of days”

Pardue said there were no other injuries reported in the city. “I think most people heeded the advice of the forecasters and took shelter,” he said.

Gorham Deputy Fire Chief Ken Fickett said no storm-related injuries were reported in Gorham. Grovo said a tree fell on a trailer on Rocky Dundee Road in Buxton, but a woman in bed at the time was not injured.

Westbrook schools closed early on Monday due to the storm. School Superintendent Marc Gousse said the decision was made to dismiss all students before noon to get them home safely, and school remained closed on Tuesday due to a lack of power. Schools opened as usual on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t comfortable opening school (on Tuesday),” said Gousse. “It was just not safe. It was not a good situation to put kids in.”

Gousse said most of the schools escaped serious damage and flooding, but Congin Elementary School did have some damage to ductwork on the roof, Gousse said.

Norm Justice, director of the facilities department for the Gorham School Department, said on Tuesday evening that no schools in town were damaged due to the storm. Gorham schools were closed on Tuesday, but were open on Wednesday.

“There were many trees and power lines down around town (on Tuesday), which would have made busing very difficult,” Justice said.

“We lost a few trees at Great Falls on the emergency access from Parker Hill,” Justice said. “Public works had them cleaned up this afternoon. (And) we lost a small garden shed at Great Falls.”

The only other damage, Justice said, were a few aluminum bleachers at the middle school.

Justice said power was still out at Great Falls Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon but there is a generator there and the school can operate without CMP power.

“We had power at all the other schools,” Justice said.

Sandy’s winds also took aim at American Legion Post 62 on Dunn Street in Westbrook, ripping an extensive amount of siding from the building. A maintenance man, Jim Howard, who picked up several strips of siding left strewn on the lawn on Tuesday, believed some of the torn siding could be salvaged.

Robert Barton of Post 62 said the siding was installed about four years ago and this marks the third time it had been blown from the building. Barton said he’d call an emergency meeting of the post’s building corporation for Tuesday.

“The corporation will meet and decide what to do next,” Barton said.

The Presumpscot River roars past the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook on Tuesday morning in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. A lighter-than-expected rainfall helped alleviate any flooding issues in the city. The biggest problems caused by the storm were power outages.    
Maintenance worker Jim Howard Tuesday recovers siding ripped by high winds from the American Legion Post 62 headquarters in Westbrook.