BANGOR, Maine (AP)&nbsp- Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. confirms it was lightning that left more than 118,000 customers&nbsp- practically its entire service area&nbsp- without power last week.

The utility says the systemwide outage that lasted more than two hours July 24 was caused by three separate lightning strikes.

An investigation showed that the first strike occurred somewhere between Orrington, Maine, and Point Lepreau, New Brunswick. The second struck between Orrington and Windsor, Maine, and the third was in Keswick, New Brunswick.

Bangor Hydro says a redundant transmission line feeding into its system was out of service for maintenance, and that contributed to the outage.

The same series of thunderstorms spawned a tornado in New Hampshire and many more power outages in Maine.