Maine Storm Brings Strong Wind And More Power Outages

Maine storm brings strong wind and more power outages Tens of thousands of Mainers woke up Friday without power as a strong Halloween storm brought down trees and power lines.

As of 6:15 a.m., Central Maine Power reported more than 65,500 customers without power. Forecasters say a cold front following Thursday's rain could bring winds of 50 mph or more.

On Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service in Gray issued an overnight wind advisory for midcoast Maine Lincoln and Knox counties but even stronger winds were expected to blast Portland and most of the state starting around 6 a.m. Friday.

Many of the outages were concentrated on the Midcoast, but outages were distributed across CMP's entire network. Company leaders said Thursday they were preparing to respond.

More than 17,000 outages were already reported in both utility companies’ service areas early Friday morning. At 12:25 a.m., CMP was reporting 5,787 customers without power, with nearly 2,000 of them in Kennebec County. Emera Maine was reporting 11,798 outages at 12:30 a.m., with most of those concentrated in Penobscot and Hancock counties.

CMP said it has called in line crews to start early Friday to begin restoring power. The company said it also has 80 contractor crews ready to go, with more than 60 additional contractor crews available if needed.

The storm departs early Friday as the rain ends, but gusty winds will likely last through midday. A strong nor'easter two weeks ago knocked out power to nearly 200,000 CMP customers. Coastal areas were hardest hit by that storm.

Temperatures will drop into the 50s by Friday night with a mild, sunny weekend in the forecast for Greater Portland.