BRUNSWICK

There were thousands of power outages across the Midcoast and state Monday morning as hurricane force winds brought down power lines and trees, making many roads are impassable.

The highest wind gusts generated by the low pressure storm were expected to start after midnight Saturday and continue until Monday morning. Public safety crews said the real damage was reported at around 5 a.m.

Colleen Moore lives on Pleasant Point Road in Topsham and was laying in bed, listening to the wind that sounded like a freight train. She could hear it coming, “and you could just feel when it was going to get slammed.”

She estimated the power went out at about 4:30 a.m. and at 5 a.m., “kaboom.”

Things in every room were knocked of walls and fell out of cabinets. A branch crashed through the roof into her bedroom only feet from her bed.

“It was scary.”

Two large pine trees had fallen on her house. Not knowing the severity of the damage or whether she was safe, she called 911. She was told the fire department would get there as soon as they could. Several trees had fallen across the road between the start of the road and her house.

“Thankfully I’ve had a lot of neighbors and friends stop by and call, text and make sure I’m  OK, and what do I need. They’re over here chainsawing. We have a great neighborhood and I have a lot of great friends from my congregation, and family in the vicinity that are helping.”

According to the National Weather Service, winds blew as hard as 44 miles per hour in Sagadahoc County and 51 miles per hour in Brunswick.

Gail Rice, spokeswoman for Central Maine Power Co., said the total number of customer outages from the storm surpassed 400,000 shortly after noon. By late Monday afternoon, that number had dropped to about 385,000, “which beats the ice storm of ‘98 by a lot.”

According to the CMP website’s outage listing, there were more than 109,000 customers without power in Cumberland County and more than 16,000 in Sagadahoc County Monday afternoon. Of those outages there are more than 9,000 in Brunswick, 4,000 in both Harpswell and Freeport, more than 3,000 in Bath and 2,600 in Topsham

“This is the worst that we’ve ever experienced in terms of outages from a storm,” Rice said.

Crews spent most of today making downed lines safe but were also able to restore power to some customers, Rice said. However it could be more than a week before power is restored in some places.

Due to all the rain with this storm and the storms last week, the ground was saturated so that heavy winds pulled trees down faster.

“We’ve got trees and lines down all over the place,” she said. Just when power will be restored in specific areas is still unknown.

“We’ll probably know a little more as more assessors get out in the field and get pictures of the damage,” Rice said. “Right now, they’re just slinking in, bit by bit.”

Rice advised that people should be prepared for a multi-day restoration and hopes CMP will have a better timeline by Tuesday night. 

She added that it is important not to stop the CMP workers in the field, who need to concentrate on the work they’re doing.

CMP had 100 of its own two-person crews working on storm recovery Monday, along with 105 crews from contractors in Maine and New Brunswick and 108 tree crews, according to a CMP press release. Widespread damage throughout New England and eastern Canada presents an added challenge in the restoration. Additional crews are expected to arrive soon from Canada; others from as far away as Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia are on their way.

Local firefighters also prepared for the storm. Topsham Fire Lt. Justin Emmons said the department was staffed Sunday night with four or five extra firefighters and they started responding to downed trees and lines at 4 a.m. By 8 a.m., a majority of the roads in town were closed or blocked in some fashion but fortunately there hadn’t been any crashes or injuries, despite some trees falling on houses. Most traffic lights were out as well.

Bath Fire Captain Christopher Cummings said Sunday night went well and the storm-related calls started coming in between 4:30 and 5 a.m. Monday. 

“We’ve had a whole bunch of trees down, trees on houses, trees on power lines and some trees on cars,” he said.

There were still trees on power lines, making it difficult to access certain areas. However firefighters can’t cut down trees that are touching power lines until CMP gives them the OK. With downed lines, trees and utility poles, he said crews are anticipating getting power back by Wednesday.

“One problem we’re having is people ignoring our barricades and warning devices telling them to not drive over power lines and under trees,” Cummings said. “We’ve  had to replace multiple cones thrown to the side.”

He estimated the fire department had responded to as many as 75 calls as of late Monday afternoon. Amidst the storm calls, there hasn’t been many rescue calls, he noted.

“I will say that the city has stepped up, starting in the city manager’s office to the police department to public works and parks and rec for an all hands on deck to try to restore things as fast as we can, and everybody has worked well,” Cummings said.

Moving forward, “I would just urge people to be patient,” he said. “We’ve seen a couple minor cases where people have been frustrated because everyone wants their power on. We’re working with CMP trying to get things as fast as we can but it’s a big job right now. It really is.”

He cautioned people driving at night to proceed slowly as that there are still low lying branches, wires, and other debris that may be hard to see.

All local school districts canceled school Monday and Tuesday. Bath Iron Works, the Midcoast’s largest employer, announced it was closing all facilities for the first shift Monday, opening for the second shift.

Most stores and restaurants in the Midcoast were closed Monday and those that remained open swarmed with customers, even backing up traffic. 

Most town offices in the Midcoast closed their offices Monday due to the storm.

Due to the storm, some towns decided to postpone all Halloween activities Tuesday evening until Friday. Topsham officials also urged all families to also postpone their trick or treating until Friday as well, due to a concern that there may be areas still difficult or dangers to access Tuesday night.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

TIPS FROM CMP

During a power interruption:

— 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 those 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.