More than 50,000 Mainers remained without power Thursday afternoon after a Thanksgiving nor’easter dropped a foot of heavy snow in parts of the state.
On Wednesday night, Gov. Paul LePage declared a limited state of emergency to help utility crews restore power, with a number of traffic accidents were reported as snow fell quickly from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday morning.
Additional Images
Outages affected mostly southern and coastal Maine, with 33,000 customers out in York and Cumberland counties at 4 p.m. Thursday, according to Central Maine Power Co. Another 14,000 were out in Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties, with some coastal areas particularly affected. More than 1,400 customers in Kennebec County were among the scattered outages Thursday afternoon.
In a statement, CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said crews worked overnight, with the full workforce reporting at 5 a.m. Thursday to repair major lines in the most-affected counties. Outages were reduced sharply over the course of the day from a peak of more than 100,000.
While the brunt of the storm-related power outages was borne by southern Maine, police in Kennebec, Franklin and Somerset counties reported road slide-offs, downed power lines and crashes throughout the evening. In Franklin County, police reported 26 accidents, with two reported to involve injuries, from midday Wednesday until Thursday morning.
Another 18 accidents were reported to the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office during the storm, mainly between 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday, said Chief Deputy Ryan Reardon, with police responding to 18 more accidents in Augusta and Hallowell. However, no serious injuries were reported.
In Readfield, a tree that fell across railroad tracks stopped a Pan Am Raiways train and blocked traffic temporarily in the middle of Route 17 at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, said Lee Mank, the town’s fire chief. Larry Perkins, who lives on Tallwood Drive, said the train stopped him from leaving until 9:30 a.m. for the community Thanksgiving meal he organizes annually in Gardiner.
On Farmington Falls Road in Farmington, a two-vehicle accident involving injuries was reported around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday that knocked down power lines and blocked the road, which is also U.S. Route 2, for around 4 hours.
Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Kaitlin Schroeder contributed to this report.
Michael Shepherd — 370-7652
Twitter: @mikeshepherdme
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.