FREEPORT, Maine — About a foot of heavy, wet snow fell across much of the state overnight Wednesday, thwarting Thanksgiving plans by knocking out power to more than 100,000.
But by 4:30 p.m., ovens were heating up in more than half those homes as line crews for the state’s two major power companies — Central Maine Power and Emera Maine — made rapid progress.
CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said Thursday that nearly 1,000 employees worked throughout the day but acknowledged that, with the significant damage, “there’s no way we’re going to get everybody back online today.”
At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, 42,000 customers in York County, nearly 28,000 customers in Cumberland County, 12,500 in Sagadahoc County and 9,600 in Lincoln County were in the dark, according to CMP.
By 4:30 p.m., CMP numbers were halved in each county. As of 6 a.m. Friday, CMP reported fewer than 32,000 outages.
And while just fewer than 11,000 Emera Maine customers lost power in the northern part of the state, crews “made incredible progress” during the day, reducing the outages from just fewer than 11,000 to 2,829, spokesman Bob Potts said.
Potts said Emera expected to have nearly all customers back online by the end of the day Thursday, though some of the hardest-hit areas in Hancock County could be out until Friday. At 6 a.m. Friday, Emera reported 530 still without power, mostly in Hancock County.
State offices closed at 1 p.m. Wednesday because of the storm. Gov. Paul LePage issued an emergency proclamation Wednesday night that allowed utility crews to drive extra hours to repair lines and restore power. As a result, 30 line crews from Canada staged at the U.S. border on Wednesday night to arrive in Maine on Thursday, and 30 more crews were headed down Thursday, Rice said.
Ninety CMP tree crews were already out Thursday morning, working a standard 17 hours on, 7 hours off storm rotation.
“We’ve got people out there working who are not going to have holiday meals with their families,” Rice said. “Keep in mind a lot of our people out there, their families are home without power. I don’t have any power. But we’ve got a good plan in place and hope to have a very general estimate by the end of today.”
“One challenge for the day has been finding meals for everyone, because so many businesses are closed,” Rice continued. “But we’ve also had a number of small restaurants volunteer to open up and make some hot turkey dinners for the crews. We are very grateful for their support.”
Mike Kistner with the National Weather Service Gray office said 10 to 14 inches of snow fell between the New Hampshire border and the Augusta area, though some areas saw more.
Dixmont and Glenburn, in Penobscot County, were among the communities to see the most snow, topping out at 13.5 inches, Norton said. Aroostook County amounts ranged from 9 inches in Portage to 4.5 inches in St. Agatha. Snowfall totals at the National Weather Service’s Gray office were still being gathered Thursday morning, but the Caribou office reported more than 8 inches of accumulation.
Slippery road conditions plagued holiday travelers, prompting the York County Sheriff’s Office to respond to 76 crashes, many of them minor, between noon and 8 p.m. Wednesday, WGME reported. In the Bangor region, local officials reported only minor “slide-off” accidents as drivers attempted to negotiate the sometimes icy roads.
One person was killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash on Route 9 in Berwick near the Knowlton School.
At about 12:49 p.m., the driver of a 2002 Nissan sedan lost control because of the slippery road conditions and slid sideways, striking the front end of a 2006 white box van, according to Berwick police. The driver of the Nissan, whose name was not released as of Thursday morning, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the van was not injured.
Route 9 was closed for 2½ hours while police investigated the crash.
The Amtrak Downeaster reported significant delays Thursday morning, and a number of flights at the Portland Jetport were canceled.
BDN writer Mario Moretto contributed to this report.