Utility companies and public works crews were out in force picking up the pieces of southern Maine as a massive storm brought heavy rain and winds to the Lakes Region earlier this week.

A representative from Central Maine Power said power outages peaked on Monday afternoon when 127,585 customers were without electricity. Phone and cable lines were also snapped as the wind took its toll on hundreds of trees in the area.

“It was a bad one,” said Tom Cutting, of Jordan’s Store in Sebago.

Flooded roads

Monday and Tuesday’s travel conditions were extremely difficult to navigate with streams overflowing and culverts failing. Nearly every road in Standish, it seemed, was blocked Monday and Tuesday. But in nearby Raymond, dispatchers reported no road closures. Road crews around the area responded to hundreds of calls Monday from residents.

“We fared pretty well, all our major washouts have been taken care of,” said Windham Public Works Director Douglas Fortier on Wednesday. He said his department has put a lot of effort into building and maintaining drains, culverts and ditches for the roads and it prevented a lot of damage.

A bad nor’easter

The Patriot’s Day storm was a fierce nor’easter that started Sunday with two to four inches of snow falling in the lakes Region. By Monday morning, the snow had turned over to heavy rain in much of the area as temperatures reached the 40s.

In South Windham, weather observer August Sardinha reported more than six inches of rain, the highest total in the Lakes Region. Carol Strout, of Raymond Hill Road, reported sustained winds above 50 mph on Monday afternoon.

At its peak, a nor’easter can be just as damaging as a hurricane, with counter-clockwise winds and heavy precipitation. A nor’easter, or northeaster, is formed when warm Gulf stream air collides with cold Arctic air.

Braving the weather

Despite predictions of the storm and washed out roadways, people were out and about on Monday and Tuesday.

Elihu Acker, of Denmark, was dropping by Jordan’s Store for supplies on Tuesday. He said the storm didn’t compare to the two tornados and three hurricanes he’s lived through. Acker said the frozen ground in Sebago saved a lot of trees, while softer earth in places like Gorham resulted in toppled pines.

Windham Police officer Matthew Cyr said a town cruiser and a Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department patrol car were trapped on a short stretch of River Road Monday near noontime, when two pine trees fell in front of them and another behind them. They were trapped until a Windham public works crew and Central Maine Power crew came to remove the felled trees and downed power lines.

“I didn’t think it was going to be this bad,” said Eric Tomkus, 32, Windham, at 11:30 a.m. on Monday. He helped mend a fence at Spark’s Ark animal sanctuary off River Road in Windham after a fallen tree limb compromised an enclosure housing an emu and a herd of goats.

Tomkus said the road to his house, Griffin Drive, was flooded over, but luckily his home is on a hill and was safe from the churning waters.

“We were fortunate, we got a few downed limbs but not a lot of damage,” said Darrell Herbert of Windham. He was outside clearing branches and raking his lawn on Wednesday.

John Gralla of South Windham filled the back of his truck with the evergreen branches that landed on his property. His house was without power on Wednesday when he headed into town to fill a gas can to fuel his generator.

In Standish Brian LeBreck, 40, and Rich Byrne, 34, helped their neighbor Earl Johnson, 79, clear away a fallen pine tree from his lawn. The tree broke apart about two yards from the ground and smashed a stone wall on its way down.

“It was pretty nasty the day of the storm,” LeBreck said. His house was without power but otherwise fine. Some of his neighbors weren’t so lucky, as falling trees punched holes in their roofs.

Byrne, who lived up the street, said he was staying in a hotel because water was coming in the wall of his house through his circuit breaker. He and LeBreck said they were going to put the fallen pine tree through a wood chipper so Johnson could spread the pieces on his flower bushes.

Johnson said he doesn’t think this storm was as rough as the ice storm of 1998.

“This don’t compare to that,” he said while putting his stone wall back together at the Basin Harbor housing development. “But it’s still bad enough.”

Will it be covered?

“The storm has been horrible,” said Tricia Zwirner of State Farm Insurance in Windham. She said she got about 100 calls on Monday and a lot of them were wondering if they would be covered for flood damage.

They weren’t. Zwirner said it was heartbreaking to tell them there’s nothing she could do.

Zwirner said her company declared the Nor’easter a catastrophe when it received its 500th insurance claim on Monday. The last time State Farm issued a catastrophe statement was during the ice storm of 1998.

Sheltered from the elements

Windham High School was used as a shelter for the cold and hungry. It opened at around 11 a.m. on Monday and had about 20 people staying overnight Monday.

Donna Jasper, the manager of the high school’s cafeteria, said the high school has always been the place to go during a disaster. She’s worked there for 26 years.

“Most people stay at home as long as they can,” she said.

The cafeteria was used to produce hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for public safety workers and displaced residents. Manicotti and lasagna made for the supper meal.

“I’m very grateful for this,” said Freda Huntley, 75. She and the other residents of the Little Falls Landing senior housing center in South Windham came to the shelter for hot meals after they lost power, but went back home to sleep.

“We want to sleep in our own beds,” Huntley said.

“A lot of people just come here for a hot meal,” said Sharon Dixon, director of Food Services for the Windham School Department.

Not everyone had to stay overnight at the shelter to enjoy its benefits. Many people used the shelter either for a shower or a quick meal, Dixon said, including public works crews, CMP line crews and police officers who were on call much of Monday and Tuesday.

The shelter closed its doors at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, but would reopen if needed, according to Dixon. As of deadline, the shelter had not needed to reopen.

Tom Langzettel, 59, lives off Newhall Road and visited the shelter Monday. He works nights and used one of the cots in the shelter to catch up on his sleep while he waited for the electricity to be restored to his home.

“My home is fine, just no power,” he said.

Sorayaa Haddadi, of Albion Road, went to the shelter after her basement flooded, but said she’s more concerned about the safety of her family than the insurance coverage. Her husband and four kids had pizza together in the shelter.

“This has been a lousy vacation,” said Windham High School sophomore Ashfi Haddadi. The 16-year-old started her April break on Monday.

“We were so excited for vacation and BLAM!” she said.