Sunday’s high winds cut power to several thousand customers

High winds caused power outages on Sunday for several thousand customers statewide, but most had their power back by Monday, according to company officials.

“About 5,000 customers were affected,” Central Maine Power Co. spokeswoman Gail Rice said Monday. “We got the last ones back this morning.”

The first CMP outage was reported around 2 p.m. Sunday.

The winds knocked down small distribution lines all over the state, Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. spokeswoman LuAnn Ballesteros said Monday.

Most of the outages were caused by broken branches or trees falling on power lines that run from the street to homes and businesses, and none affected major lines, Ballesteros said.

“We estimate that we’ve had no more than 1,000 customers without power,” she said. “As we cleaned up outages in one area, another area was having problems – that’s the nature of this type of weather.”

High winds typically knock down power lines every year in Maine, and Ballesteros wanted to remind residents to “never touch a power line on the ground, on your vehicle or on a tree.”

Crews worked throughout the day to make repairs, but on Monday afternoon, several Bangor Hydro customers in Hancock County reported outages.

“Our crews are out and will stay out until all the areas are covered,” Ballesteros said.