Weighty snow, wind cut out power to thousands

BANGOR – Snow and rain Sunday and heavy winds Monday caused power outages that affected more than 24,000 customers in areas served by Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and Central Maine Power.

By late Monday afternoon, power had been restored to almost all of the affected CMP customers and all but about 725 Bangor Hydro customers.

Bangor Hydro spokeswoman Janis Piper said repair crews would work through the day and continue working until all services were restored. She said crews hoped to complete their work by midnight Monday.

According to Piper, about 12,000 customers lost power as a result of Sunday’s heavy, wet snow, which pulled tree limbs down into power lines.

“They were almost entirely in our northern division [served by an office in Lincoln],” Piper said, adding that outages also were reported in the Bangor area, and Hancock and Washington counties.

By late Monday afternoon, the company’s Web site, www.bhe.com, showed electrical service still out in the Lincoln, Millinocket, Howland, Milo and Argyle areas, as well as several nearby unorganized territories.

Central Maine Power spokesman Gail Rice said snow and wind affected service to an estimated 12,500 customers, the bulk of them in the northern portion of CMP’s service territory.

Farmington, Skowhegan and Dover-Foxcroft had the most power outages, Rice said, adding only a few isolated problems remained.

“We have them pretty much wrapped up now,” she said.