BANGOR, Maine — For the third day in a row, a string of strong thunderstorms and lightning have left thousands of Mainers without electrical service.
As of 5 p.m., more than 1,900 Emera Maine customers were without power, according to the company’s live outage map. The majority of those customers were in Greater Bangor, but Dedham, Eddington, Clifton, Bradley and Mariaville also were affected.
By 9 p.m., the number had increased to 2,063, with most of the affected customers in roughly the same region.
“Emera Maine crews have worked steadily since late afternoon to repair system damage after thunderstorms made their way through, dropping tree limbs and power lines,” spokeswoman Susan Faloon said Wednesday night in a status update.
“Most of the outages affected Penobscot County in the Bangor-Orono area first and currently the towns of Amherst, Bradley, Clifton, Dedham, Eddington, Holden and Mariaville with scattered outages elsewhere,” she said. “Power has been restored to more than 2,000 customers, and crews will continue to work tonight until power has been restored to all customers.”
Central Maine Power Co. had nearly 1,500 outages shortly before 5 p.m., but the total dropped to about 60 by 9 p.m.
The storm also brought down trees, limbs and utility wires throughout the region — including a large tree in Veazie that fell on Route 2, causing the road to close temporarily and bringing down power lines with it, according to Pete Rahe, observing program leader for the National Weather Service’s Caribou office.
Rahe said Wednesday evening that some notable storm incidents included hail measuring nearly an inch in diameter at Grand Lake Stream and numerous places reporting pea-sized hail all over southern Maine.
“Hopefully, tomorrow will be a lot calmer,” he said. Thursday’s forecast calls for partly sunny weather with highs in the mid-70s throughout Maine, with the exception of the northern part of the state, which could see some rain in the morning.