TOPSHAM

Central Maine Power Company says it passed the halfway point Wednesday as it repairs downed lines from Monday’s storm.

At 10 p.m. Wednesday, an estimated 154,000 homes and businesses remained without service following a wind and rain storm that hit Maine earlier this week. That is down from a peak of 404,000 at midday Monday.

“This storm has been unprecedented; no single storm has caused a higher number of outages,” said CMP President and CEO Sara Burns. “We restored service to more than 100,000 customer accounts yesterday and expect good progress today toward our Saturday goal to complete the restoration in all but a few remote or inaccessible locations.”

The company expects to have service restored to the majority of customers by late Saturday. The only exceptions could be homes on remote camp lines and in areas where flooding or downed trees prevent access. Preliminary estimated restoration times will be listed when available at cmpco.com.

The company’s workforce of an estimated 1,800 people includes tree clearing crews, line and substation repair crews, and safety, logistics, assessors and mechanical repair personnel. Additional line and tree workers have come from as far away as Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Canada.

“Our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible, and we ask people to refrain from approaching them with questions that can slow their work and create safety concerns,” said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice. “We encourage customers to go to our website for restoration updates, and let our crews focus on safety as they go about their tasks.”

According to a press release issued by the town of Topsham, just before noon Wednesday about 1,231 Topsham customers were still without power out of approximately 4,900 total customers.

“Please remember that any down line is assumed to have power in it, either from CMP or from improperly installed generators (which can feed power back into the system),” the release states. “So don’t touch, move or drive over any downed lines.”

Topsham Public Works has been diligent in clearing roads, as soon as power issues have been resolved, according to the press release. If trees are into lines and blocking roads, public works has closed the road, but can’t deal with the trees until the power has been addressed by CMP.

As of noon Wednesday, there are several roads that are still closed due to downed lines or trees into lines blocking the roadway: Pleasant Point Road, West Wind Road, Ward Road and Merrill Road.

Other roads still have debris alongside the road, or low lines, but are passable. Where hazards exist, such as low lines, crews have tried to mark them.

Public safety personnel have also warned those with chain saws not to cut into any tree that is touching a power line.

As cleanup and power restoration efforts continue around the Midcoast following Monday’s storm, local officials are releasing information on where to find shelter.

Topsham has opened the police department lobby as a warming station, with charging capabilities for mobile devices, and have opened up a temporary water spigot outside the department as well.

The Topsham Public Library is open as warming station, with wifi and mobile device charging.

School Administrative District 75 on Wednesday opened Mt. Ararat High School’s gym and locker rooms as warming areas with showers.

Topsham has received a couple of calls about opening an overnight shelter. The Sagadahoc Emergency Management

Agency announced an overnight shelter with food is now open at the Bath Foursquare Church at 405 Centre St. in Bath.

The Woolwich Fire Department has been open to residents all day since Tuesday. Fire Chief Michael Demers said many of the roads in town still have obstructions in Woolwich with trees, broken poles and wires. There are a couple areas that would still be challenging for larger fire trucks to navigate around, which the county’s EMA office has passed on to CMP.

“I have not heard from any trapped residents,” Demers said. “Several people have been coming into the station the last few days for water, showers and charging devices.”

Many people have stopped by to get water, the fire chief said.

The Topsham release also notes that the transfer station is open, although there is no power or phone service. It is accepting both solid waste and recycling, and storing both on site.

“We are making contingency plans for additional storage capacity if power doesn’t come back online,” the update states. As of today, Nov. 1, the winter hours at Solid Waste revert to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Places to shelter

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

• Freeport Community Center: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Free wifi.

• Harpswell town office: Call (207) 833-5771 for hours. Warming station and mobile device charging.

• Pownal Town Hall: Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Showers are available at the fire station (not handicap accessible).

SAGADAHOC COUNTY

• Bath YMCA: Monday-Friday, 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Access to water and showers.

• Bath Foursquare Gospel Church: Daily. Red Cross shelter with cots, blankets and dinner available.

• Bowdoinham Fire Department: Daily until 6 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Access to water and showers.

• Topsham Public Safety Building: Accessible 24 hours. Warming station and mobile device charging. Access to water in the main entrance area.

• Topsham Public Library: Open during normal business hours. Warming station and mobile device charging, wifi.

• Woolwich Fire Department: Daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Access to water and showers.

• Phippsburg Fire Department: Daily 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Warming station and mobile device charging. Access to water and showers.

• Georgetown Community Center: Open to residents of Georgetown 24 hours as needed. Warming station and mobile device charging.

ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY

• Lisbon Town Office: Call (207) 353-3000 for hours. Warming station.