PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — More than 150,000 Mainers were without power late Sunday morning as a storm that could bring more than a foot of snow to northern Maine continued.
Shortly after 2 p.m., at least 155,846 people lacked power across the state, with the outages heaviest in the southern and western Maine served by Central Maine Power Co.
CMP reported 140,261 outages across its service area, with 23,848 in Cumberland County, 16,403 in Kennebec, 18,731 in Oxford and 16,161 in York.
Versant Power reported 15,585 customers with outages: 11,209 in Penobscot, 2,648 in Piscataquis, 1,190 in Aroostook and 538 in Hancock.
In Bangor, about 2 to 4 inches of snow and sleet accumulated through Saturday night and around an inch was expected Sunday.
In Aroostook County, up to 13 inches of snow were expected in some places, including Presque Isle and Fort Kent, in the first significant snowfall of the season.
The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office reported Saturday evening that several car crashes had been reported across The County due to the road conditions.
“Please stay home if you do not need to be out,” the sheriff’s office said. “If you are out, slow down and be safe.”
A number of trees and lines were reported down throughout The County. Caribou Road, the primary road from Presque Isle to Caribou, was impassable due to a downed tree, for example.
On Saturday evening, Presque Isle’s Main Street was busy, with many people seemingly unfazed by the harsh conditions. People could be seen picking up pizza at Domino’s and eating at sit-down restaurants open along Aroostook County’s busiest street.
Traffic became scarce as snow accumulated on Sunday morning and afternoon, though a few residents braved the snow to go shopping or get lunch.