BANGOR, Maine — Less than two days after the state was plunged into a deep freeze, Mainers found themselves grappling with a mix of driving rain and wind gusts of more than 60 mph in some spots.
More than 20,000 people statewide were without power Monday night, and at least one fatal accident was reported.
The weather was blamed for a variety of problems, ranging from downed trees and minor flooding to power outages, and at least one fatal accident.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office reported handling a fatal crash on Route 4 between Turner and Livermore, but no details were available late Monday.
According to the National Weather Service, between 1 and 3 inches of rain was expected to fall Monday, with temperatures expected to be near or above freezing for most of the week.
Parts of Maine were under a flood watch Monday. Northern Maine had a weather advisory warning of potential freezing rain, and the midcoast and Down East areas were under a high wind warning that called for gusts of more than 60 mph.
The one-two punch of freezing rain and high winds brought down trees on roads throughout Maine and knocked out electrical service to at least 5,000 Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. customers in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington and Hancock counties. Spokeswoman Susan Faloon said Bangor Hydro employees were dealing with the outages, but she cautioned that continued winds could cause more outages and delay restoration time.
More than 18,600 Central Maine Power Co. customers were in the dark Monday evening, according to company spokesman Dave Phifer. He said Waldo County saw the highest number of outages with 3,307 customers losing power. Androscoggin County ranked somewhere in the middle with 2,220 powerless customers.
The rain also caused some minor flooding, though no road closures as of midevening Monday.
Given the unseasonably warm and wet weather, an official with the Maine Warden Service on Monday urged people to check conditions before venturing out onto previously frozen lakes, ponds, rivers or streams.
According to warden service Maj. Gregory Sanborn, the heavy rains either will open the water, thin existing ice or create slush. Inlets and outlets also will be dangerous because of runoff from rivers and streams, he said.
“January ‘thaws’ are not unusual, however, most of Maine has not had a consistent stretch of subfreezing temperatures this winter to provide a thick layer of ice that can withstand this wet, warm spell,” Sanborn said. “What may have been moderately safe ice this past weekend may be extremely treacherous this week.”
In most parts of northern, eastern and central Maine, the rain and wind kept public safety, public works, utility and other emergency response crews busy, including in Brewer, where the wind Monday night blew off part of the New Stable Inn roof on Wilson Street.
A maintenance man at the New Stable Inn said no one was injured and that members of the Brewer Fire and Police departments were on the scene to do what they could to help.
Monday marked the second time in a little over three years that high winds have wreaked havoc with the inn’s roof, according to Bangor Daily News archives. In late October 2006, high winds were blamed for blowing off a different section of the roof.
The roofing that blew apart Monday night took out a power line and a transformer that served the Cozy Inn next door, according to Lt. Robbie Wildes of the Brewer Fire Department.
Wildes told the BDN that people in the 17 rooms at the New Stable Inn that were occupied when the incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. were allowed to stay inside because the electrical supply was not affected.
The people who were staying in the 20 occupied rooms next door at the Cozy Inn, however, were temporarily evacuated after that inn lost power, he said.
A Penobscot Regional Communications Center dispatcher said Monday night that there was standing water in low spots that could freeze into sheets of ice by morning if temperatures dropped quickly overnight.
While most schools in Piscataquis County were closed Monday, there were few accidents on the ice-covered secondary roads, according to Dave Roberts, supervisor of dispatch services at the Sheriff’s Department. He said the main highways appeared to be well-sanded. Other than a few cars off the roads, most motorists apparently used good judgment and waited until the secondary roads were sanded.
A Washington County dispatcher said no major storm-related problems, including road closures, had been reported as of Monday evening but that there had been some minor flooding in the usual low-lying spots.
In Machias, heavy rain combined with water from snowmelt caused excess stormwater to seep into the town’s wastewater treatment system, though the plant still was operational late Monday night, Superintendent Robert Bialota said.
Bialota said the excess water prompted him to shut down the plant aeration equipment temporarily so that the bacteria it uses as part of the plant’s treatment process wouldn’t be washed out.
“Once the rain stops, we’ll be back to normal [in a matter of] a couple of hours,” he said.
Bangor Daily News writer Diana Bowley, The Associated Press, and writer Andie Hannon of the Lewiston Sun Journal contributed to this report.