BRUNSWICK

Central Maine Power Co., is working to restore power but before they can provide time estimates on restoration, they need to assess the damage and what repairs will involve.

The power company has reported an estimated 86,000 customers without service as of late Friday morning as the last of the heavy snow moved out of central and northern Maine. More than 350 local line crews, contractors and tree crews began work shortly after daybreak.

According to the CMP website, in the Midcoast area as of 1:49 p.m., there were still 667 customers without power in Brunswick, 106 in Harpswell, 5,185 in Sagadahoc County, 3,881 in Lisbon and 1,182 powerless customers in Durham.

“The heavy, wet snow that started around midday Thursday has built up on roads, tree limbs, and power lines, causing widespread damage across our service area and making travel conditions difficult for our crews,” said Gail Rice, spokesperson for CMP, in a statement. “We will get a good start on the restoration today, but with poor travel conditions and deep snow along the roadsides, we expect it could take several days to complete the restoration.”

Rice told The Times Record there has been a lot of wet snow in the Midcoast area, which is experiencing the same damage as the rest of its service areas. The wet snow coated tree limbs and branches and brought them down on lines. In some cases the sticky snow coated utility line and brought them down. It’s a sloppy, sticky snow and many areas got a lot of wind to make matters worse. 

There is no one single fix that will restore power to a large area. There are many instances of contact and lines down which crews need to find and address. It’s just hard to get around to all of the problem areas as driving conditions are not great, particularly in some of the rural areas.

“There’s a lot of damage and it’s going to take some time to get to them,” she said.

The company did prepare and had crews including outside contractors staged through the service area by Thursday afternoon. 

Due to the widespread nature of damage, and the fact that there are a lot of different issues, Rice said CMP doesn’t have any specific time estimate for when power will be restored.

“We are working on that,” she said.

First, the company needs to do a good assessment and figure out what needs to be done and if done well, should lead to more efficient restoration efforts. 

Some areas may get power back by Friday might and for some customers, it will multiple days. Many people know where they fall on that spectrum.

“We do appreciate people’s understanding,” Rice said.

There have been many phone calls and inquires on social media. People want to know when their power will be back on, which CMP understand, Rice said.

 People can look at the outage list on the website www.cmpco.com, which is mobile friendly. There will be estimates for power restoration as they become available, so she encourage customers to check back frequently.

“Everyone should stay clear of any downed power lines or fallen trees that may be tangled in the lines,” Rice said. “All downed lines should be considered live and dangerous. Customers should leave the clean-up to our crews, who are trained and equipped to handle these situations safely.”

Other things people can do to help, is to go slowly when they see line or tree crews or their contractors out working to restore power, and refrain from asking them questions about when power will be returned.

“We just want them to be able to do their job. It’s a difficult job and can be dangerous and they need to be able to concentrate on their work and not traffic going by too fast,” Rice said.

The Sagadahoc County Emergency Management Agency has been in communication with CMP, the American Red Cross and will assess over the weekend the need for any warming shelters or other measures. A plan is in place.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Central Maine Power outage tips

• Power outages can be reported on line at CMP’s mobile-friendly website (https://m.cmpco.com/mt/ecmp.cmpco.com/WebOutage) or by calling 1.800.696.1000. Our systems automatically create a work order and set the stage for dispatch of crews to the outage location.

• Visit the outage center at cmpco.com/Outages/default.html (mobile friendly at https://m.cmpco.com/mt/www.cmpco.com) or follow CMP on Facebook and Twitter for current outage and safety information.

• When using an emergency heating source, like a wood stove, fireplace, or kerosene heater, keep fuels away from the flames and be sure to ventilate properly.

• Never use grills or camp stoves indoors — they can give off dangerous gases.

• Keep refrigerators and freezers closed as much as possible. Most food will last 24 hours or longer if you minimize the opening of refrigerator and freezer doors.

• Turn off or unplug major appliances to avoid overloading circuits when power is restored.

For customers with generators:

• Hire a licensed electrician to install permanent generators and transfer switches.

• Properly ground all portable generators.

• Carefully read and observe all instructions in your generator’s operating manual.

• Never run a generator indoors, or even in an open garage.

• If your carbon monoxide detector goes off, get out of the building immediately and call 911.

• Do not store fuel indoors or try to refuel a generator while it’s running.

After Power Is Restored

• Turn on appliances and sensitive electronic equipment one at a time to avoid overloading circuits.

• If a basement or home was flooded, have an electrician check the home before contacting CMP to have services turned on.

• Replenish any emergency supplies used during the storm.

 

The company urges customers to use caution if they see downed lines.