BANGOR, Maine — Slowly but steadily, the thousands of Mainers who lost power from Sunday’s winter storm are getting their service back, with just over 15,800 residents still in the dark Wednesday evening.
Emera Maine reported around 7:30 p.m. that 11,037 of its customers remained without power, compared to an estimated 58,000 who were in the dark at the peak of the outages.
The company said about half of Emera Maine’s customers were affected by the early fall snowstorm.
Early estimates indicate Sunday’s storm affected many, if not more customers than an ice storm in December 2013.
Central Maine Power’s website reported at 7:28 p.m. about 4,800 customers remained without power Wednesday, down from more than 80,000 outages Monday morning.
CMP reported Wednesday’s restoration efforts to customers in Kennebec, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc and Somerset counties were expected to be completed by the end of the day, while any remaining outages likely would be to seasonal homes, isolated areas, islands or inaccessible areas of Hancock, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo and Penobscot counties.
Camden had 856 customers without power Wednesday afternoon, 833 in Warren and 223 in Rockland.
Mainland schools in Knox County were closed Wednesday for the third straight day. An overnight shelter at Camden Hills Regional High School has closed, according to Knox County Emergency Management Agency.
Emera Maine’s field crews spent a busy Election Day working around the clock to restore power with aid from workers from Vermont, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The company’s crews, which include more than 300 workers, continued to work Wednesday to restore power.
Customers are urged to stay clear of any downed power lines and trees in contact with power lines.
Power was expected to be restored to Hancock and southern Penobscot counties by the end of Thursday and to northern Penobscot and Piscataquis counties by the end of the day Wednesday.
