AUGUSTA — Nearly 10,000 homes in coastal and central Maine were without power Wednesday afternoon after a storm dropped nine to 10 inches of wet, heavy snow throughout the state.
Residents in Cumberland, Knox, Kennebec, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, York and Waldo counties were affected, according to a news release from Central Maine Power.
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The outages should be brief, according to company spokeswoman Gail Rice.
“Crews have been making good progress, and we hope to have service restored to everyone by (Wednesday) evening,” she said.
Downed trees were a factor in some outages, but most cases were caused by motor vehicle accidents. Rice said there were at least four incidents of cars colliding with transmission poles, including one accident in Richmond that affected between 1,000 and 2,000 customers in Sagadahoc and Kennebec Counties. Minor traffic accidents were “too numerous to count” in Kennebec County, said Sue Poulin, a dispatcher for the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’ve been busy since 7 a.m. and it hasn’t let up,” she said Wednesday afternoon.
Law enforcement agencies in Augusta, Skowhegan, Waterville as well as Franklin and Somerset counties reported numerous incidents of cars sliding off the road, but no serious accidents.
On the interstate highways, there were “dozens of slideoffs,” but no serious accidents, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
McCausland said the lack of serious accidents might be attributed to a winter storm in late October.
“People got an early call on winter driving this year,” he said.
Travel was slow on Interstate 95 throughout the state, according to Maine Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot.
The agency is responsible for plowing 8,300 lane miles throughout Maine, which includes the interstate highways, ramps and carpool parking lots. On Wednesday, Maine DOT used 350 plow trucks to handle the falling snow.
Talbot said the roads should be clear by this morning, but motorists should be wary of black ice.
In Waterville, police occasionally blocked traffic Wednesday morning on Kennedy Memorial Drive to assist with tractor trailer trucks that struggled to climb the slippery road surface on the westbound hill. Officer Timothy Hinton said the police department assisted with “six or seven trucks.”
Waterville Public Works Director Mark Turner said he and two other employees returned to work from vacation Wednesday to help clear snow. In total, the department mobilized 24 employees to plow 90 miles of roads and 20 miles of sidewalks.
Turner said his crew had managed to keep most roads clear throughout the day, except for downtown streets.
“Plowing the downtown area during the day is difficult because of the amount of traffic,” he said. “But, we should have it cleared by Wednesday night.”
Mike Kistner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, said the heaviest snowfall was in Randolph. By 11 a.m., 10.8 inches fell there. Augusta received 9.3 inches. A snow report was not available for Waterville.
Kistner said skies should clear overnight, and the region should experience high temperatures in the mid-30s on Thanksgiving.
Ben McCanna — 861-9239
bmccanna@centralmaine.com
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