AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s preparations ahead of Monday’s destructive storm lagged those made before other recent and weaker weather events, with officials citing wind speeds and rainfall that came in far higher than expected.
Nearly 420,000 Mainers were without power Tuesday morning. Two people died after being hit by trees and another two are missing after their car was swept into a western Maine river. Severe flooding along rivers cut off rural areas of Maine. The state’s two major utilities, Central Maine Power Co. and Versant Power, warned that it could take days to restore power.
Many residents were surprised by the power of the storm, and officials were too. For example, the Maine Emergency Management Agency did not issue a news release ahead of Monday’s storm, as it did ahead of last week’s smaller storm and Hurricane Lee in September. Gov. Janet Mills had only issued statements closing state offices before declaring a state of civil emergency late Tuesday afternoon for 14 counties hit hardest by the storm.
“We are looking at a multi-day recovery effort right now, and Maine people can do their part by exercising vigilance and caution,” Mills said.
Monday’s wind speeds and several inches of rainfall that broke precipitation records in Bangor, Houlton and Caribou were more than initially forecast from the National Weather Service, noted Vanessa Corson, a spokesperson for the state EMA.
She noted that the agency used social media to share flooding information and forecasts over the weekend ahead of the storm. It also held a Sunday call with county agencies and Emergency Response Team partners to discuss expectations and staffing for the storm, Corson said. The agency’s emergency operations center was staffed starting Monday morning and fully activated Tuesday as recovery work continued, Corson said.
CMP spokesperson Jon Breed said the utility serving more than 650,000 customers was expecting roughly 60 mph winds. Versant, which covers parts of central and eastern Maine, started planning last week for Monday’s storm but “didn’t necessarily expect” winds to surpass 80 mph like they did in Maine and other parts of the East Coast, spokesperson Judy Long said.
Forecaster Mike Haggett, who lives in Kennebunk and has a devoted following on his Pine Tree Weather website and social media pages, had warned Sunday the third storm for the region in the last three weeks was “shaping up to be the most potent.” He thought that many Mainers may have partially checked out on the storm due to holiday preparations.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the business of the holidays and lose track of what’s happening,” Haggett said.
CMP and Versant reported a combined total of 376,000 customers remained without power as of early Tuesday afternoon. In Maine’s capital of Augusta, the Kennebec River had spilled across a waterfront parking area to the eastern block of downtown buildings around noon Tuesday. It was almost at eye level along Water Street in nearby Hallowell.
Entire neighborhoods across Maine were eerily dark into Tuesday night. Monmouth resident Jason Grundstrom-Whitney said he was not expecting to have to periodically sit in his car to charge his phone in between going to the dentist in Augusta and other errands that day.
Grundstrom-Whitney, a retired substance use counselor, said he and his family lit a “forest of candles” in their apartment Monday night. He expressed frustration at CMP’s restoration times and felt forecasting could have been better but appreciated the balmier temperatures outside.
“You can’t begrudge them,” he said of meteorologists and emergency management officials. “New England is a difficult place to forecast weather.”
