BANGOR, Maine — A storm packing wind gusts up to 77 mph that blew through the state overnight left utility crews working to restore power Friday to thousands without electricity, while homeowners checked their property for damage amid fallen trees and branches.
The 77 mph gust was recorded about 2 a.m. Friday in Eastport, according to the National Weather Service office in Caribou. Other high gusts on Thursday night were recorded in Machias (67 mph), Bar Harbor (58 mph), Sedgwick (55 mph) and Augusta (50 mph).
Bangor saw a top gust of 49 mph about 9 p.m. Thursday, and Portland topped out at 45 mph just before 6 p.m.
Downed power lines left more than 15,000 Emera Maine customers in the dark, but more than 13,000 had their power restored by late Friday afternoon.
Emera Maine reported 1,660 were still without service as of 6:30 p.m., many of those in Greater Bangor and along the coast in Hancock and Washington counties. Power to most customers was expected to be restored by 10 p.m. Friday but it may take until 5 p.m. Saturday for power to be restored in more remote locations, according to the utility’s website.
Central Maine Power still had 580 outages as of 6:30 p.m., with the majority in Hancock County. More than 5,500 were out at the start of the day.
More than an inch of rain fell in several parts of the state. Flood watches remained in effect for much of northern and western Maine along rivers and streams. Rivers are rising, according to the National Weather Service office in Caribou.
In Ellsworth, gale-force winds flipped aluminum bleachers, estimated to be 150 feet long from end to end, next to an oval running track at the combined elementary and middle school. The bleachers landed upside down on the track, with the force of the impact snapping many of the structural welds on the bleachers and gouging the surface of the track in several places.
School officials said Friday they are grateful no one was hurt in the incident and that they are assessing the damage. They said they have contacted the school department’s insurer and are not sure whether they will be able to host the first track meet of the year, which is scheduled for April 23. Ellsworth High School and Ellsworth Elementary Middle School share the track, which is located on Forest Avenue.
A tree crashed down on top of a vehicle at a residence on Eastern Avenue in Brewer, while another fallen tree snapped a utility pole on Garland Street in Bangor.
Meanwhile, crews with the Maine Department of Transportation were working Friday morning on clearing ice and compacted snow from ditches along Route 161 in New Canada, where runoff from this week’s rainstorm and from melting snow, was overflowing, washing away the soft shoulder and threatening the integrity of the paved road, according to the department’s Region 5 Manager Bob Watson.
“That’s the worst section up that way,” Watson said Friday morning.
He said his agency also had been alerted earlier that morning to some water from the St. John River rising over Route 161 in Allagash. That water since has receded, he said, adding, “we are keeping an eye on the water in the St. John.”
Ice jams on the river can cause water to back up and overflow low-lying areas. There was an ice jam in Van Buren that Watson’s crews were keeping an eye on, he said.
Watson warned that even though the rain had stopped, runoff from a lot of melting snow in the woods would still cause the water level of small streams and rivers to rise.