Storm thrashes state; Mainers assess, begin cleanup

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From Portland to Presque Isle, damage assessments were under way Tuesday after what Gov. John Baldacci called the most destructive natural disaster seen by the state since the ice storm of 1998.

A day after a powerful nor’easter washed away the road and a car parked in front his home in Saco, Mark Gilbert removed items from the house on Tuesday and marveled at the devastation wrought by the deadly storm.

Two rental cottages next to the one Gilbert rents with two friends toppled over as their foundations gave way from the pounding ocean. Boulders and sand were swept into yards. A utility pole toppled onto the parked car, then the powerful surf washed the vehicle away.

“A wave came up, grabbed the car and took it into the ocean,” Gilbert said as water lapped up against the foundation of his oceanfront home. “They found it down there, about 300 yards,” Gilbert added, gesturing down the beach.

The cleanup began on Tuesday, a day after the storm with gusts topping 80 mph and rainfall topping 7 inches felled utility poles, knocked over trees and created raging floodwaters.

But it was hampered by the fact that many roads and bridges were out, said Steve Harding of the York County Emergency Management Agency.

In York, snowplows were used Tuesday to remove boulders and other debris that washed onto U.S. Route 1A. In Portland, a crane was ordered to salvage three boats that sank at DiMillo’s Marina.

Tens of thousands of Mainers were still in the dark Tuesday, and they were warned that it could be days before electricity is fully restored.

At Spruce Head Island south of Thomaston, about 50 residents have been stranded since Monday, trapped when the gales and pounding seas washed out about five feet of the causeway that joins a bridge leading to the island.

Lobster dealer Bill Atwood has been unable to get a shipment of some five tons of lobster to foreign markets because of the washout and fishermen on the east side of the island brought their boats to the southwest side, seeking calmer seas.

Although Baldacci reported that the worst of the storm has passed, high winds and rain are expected to continue through today. The state of emergency that the governor declared Sunday night will continue for at least a few more days, he said.

“Right now, the storm is sort of very slowly winding its way out to sea,” Mark Bloomer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Caribou, said Tuesday. “Most of Aroostook County is seeing light rain and snow right now, but some areas are seeing sleet and rain.” Central and southern Maine were experiencing steady rain and gusting winds.

Bloomer said the storm should wind down and head out to sea “in the next few days.”

The massive storm system is being blamed for 17 deaths across the country, including a Lebanon, Maine woman and her 4-year-old grandchild who died Monday.

Rescuers in a boat pulled Donna Dube, 50, and Saphire Perro of Manchester, N.H., from the Little River but they were pronounced dead at a Sanford hospital, according to the Maine Warden Service. George Eliason, 40, of Lebanon, jumped into the river to save the pair. He was rescued and treated for hypothermia.

“I’m asking our citizens to put safety first for themselves and their families. Don’t take any unnecessary risks,” Baldacci said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “I’m also asking for patience. It will take time to assess, plan and recover.”

Baldacci advised people to call 911 for emergencies, 211 for a list of shelters, and to report any damage to their homes or businesses to their town offices.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency began deploying damage assessment teams Tuesday to five northeast states, including Maine, to examine the damages. The teams will be working alongside Maine’s Emergency Management Agency.

“Although we have had federal response teams in the states before the onset of the storm, the local, state and federal Preliminary Damage Assessment teams are the ‘boots on the ground’ needed to look at the extent of the damages,” Stephen Kempf, Jr., FEMA Regional Administrator in New York said in a prepared statement. Kempf said that the teams’ assessments will determine if there is a need for federal disaster aid.

The damage assessments can take days and sometimes weeks providing there is adequate access to the damaged areas, FEMA said. In many cases, high flood waters can delay a damage assessment because it can be difficult to access those areas until flood waters recede.

“It is important that we are responsive to the states requests for damage assessments and that is why we had teams on standby before the storm hit,” Art Cleaves, FEMA Regional Administrator in Boston, said in a prepared statement.

The myth of April showers turned sour Tuesday as Jackman shoveled out from under a fresh blanket of eight inches of wet snow and motorists in central Maine slid off the road into utility poles and each other on icy, slush-covered streets.

In Aroostook County, Portage received the most snow, picking up 9 inches. Allagash received 5 inches of snow and Caribou 2 inches. Van Buren received the least snow, registering just 1 inch.

In Houlton, Lisa Small admitted Tuesday afternoon that when she left Boston a week ago, she was very much looking forward to her “spring trip” through Aroostook County. Small said that while visiting friends in southern Aroostook and in Canada, she thought she might get a chance to see some spring flowers bursting through the soil.

“If there are any spring bulbs blooming, I haven’t seen them,” she said, clutching a shopping bag over her head to shield herself from raindrops. “It’s been raining and sleeting and snowing too hard for me to even head outdoors for a walk.”

In Hancock County, MDOT crews again monitored the causeway between Little Deer Isle and Deer Isle, where the waves continue to deposit debris on the road. The heavy winds and waves along with an unusually high tide caused some minor erosion to a portion of the causeway, but that did not pose a danger to motorists and the causeway remained open throughout the day.

One Dedham woman got a scare Tuesday morning when the sport-utility vehicle she was driving was hit by a falling tree on Bald Mountain Road in Dedham. Joan Gray, 44, suffered some minor shoulder pain as a result of the accident and her vehicle sustained $4,000 in damage, according to police.

“It landed right on the hood,” Lt. Tim Cote of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said of the tree, which he estimated to be 10 inches in diameter.

Two men were unhurt as their cars were damaged by trees Monday in Deer Isle. Jason Larrabee of Stonington was driving south Monday afternoon on Route 15A when his Ford pickup truck was struck by a falling tree. That morning, Donald Eaton of Deer Isle drove his Suzuki SUV into a tree that had fallen onto Sunshine Road just beyond the crest of a hill.

Road crews in Bar Harbor worked Tuesday to repair a road that had washed out the day before. Three cars sustained minor damage Monday when they drove into a deep trench that flowing rainwater had cut into Gilbert Farm Road, according to Bar Harbor police.

A few roads were flooded Tuesday on Mount Desert Island. Route 3 was covered by more than a foot of water where it runs between Little Long Pond and Bracy Cove in Mount Desert. Stones, seaweed and even a sea cucumber lay on the watery roadway where waves had crashed onto the pavement at high tide Tuesday morning.

The storm pulled a 30-foot gangway and attached deck from its base near the Oak Hill section of Stonington, according to Harbormaster Steve Johnson. Johnson and a volunteer crew were able to retrieve it and tie it off so that it would not become a hazard to navigation.

Other than that, the storm caused little damage in Stonington Harbor, Johnson said Tuesday. He praised the care the fishermen had taken in maintaining their moorings, without which, he said, the storm could have caused serious damage to the fishing fleet.

“The moorings held,” Johnson said. “They took a beating, but the moorings held. If they hadn’t been maintained, it could have been bad.”

By Tuesday afternoon, those watching inland rivers were breathing easier.

“We are almost over the top,” Robert Higgins, director of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency, said. “We are going into recovery mode and damage assessment.”

Higgins said the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers continued to rise slightly but water levels were dropping in the Sandy River and Carrabassett Stream. All were under flood watches Monday.

“All in all, we are doing fairly well,” Higgins said.

On Tuesday, officials around the state were issuing warnings to people using electrical generators, as well as to kayakers and canoeists who want to try the high water.

In Bangor, expert kayak racer Jeff Sands had a warning for anyone “aching to get out on the river” in advance of the upcoming Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race.

“It’s swift. It’s fast. It’s unpredictable,” Sands said, adding a caution that most Maine rivers are no place for novices right now. “I can’t stress the seriousness of this enough,” he said. Even for experienced paddlers, Sands said going into the water without a wet suit is the equivalent of going in without a life vest. Sands also said that passage under Bangor’s bridges will be impossible at high tide.

Dustin Cyr, 22, of Hermon, has been kayaking for seven years and ran the Kenduskeag early Tuesday with two other experienced free-style kayakers. He said the river was cold, debris was present and water levels are very high. He also warned novices not to enter the water.

As the heavy rains of Monday faded into a soft rain by Tuesday afternoon, town managers and public works directors were checking the conditions of roads and dams. Persistent winds kept crews busy clearing downed trees and repairing more than 170 utility poles.

Utility crews from New Brunswick Power, Nova Scotia Power, Madison Electric and Maine Public Service are working with more than two dozen private companies to replace broken poles and repair power lines.

Central Maine Power Company reported making progress repairing outages that peaked at 127,581.

“Our first concern is public safety so we’re still making sure all downed lines are de-energized,” CMP spokesman John Carroll said Tuesday. “With such a big, slow moving storm, we haven’t been able to shift from emergency response to assessment and recovery in many areas along the coast. We expect the restoration will take several days, possibly to the end of the week for some customers.”

Tuesday afternoon, CMP had 750 people in the field working to restore power to 104,700 customers who were still without. Alfred, Brunswick and Portland remained the hardest hit areas.

Bangor Hydro reported 2,459 outages remaining and spokesperson Susan Faloon said power may not be restored to some until Wednesday. The majority of outages were in Hancock and Washington counties.

Appealing for patience, the governor said, “We don’t want any more fatalities. We want people to watch out for each other. That’s a true Maine tradition to look out for each other and lend a hand to a neighbor. Make sure you’re calling on seniors. In a lot of cases, people aren’t leaving their homes and they wait until it’s too late. I don’t want that to happen.”

BDN reporters Walter Griffin, Rich Hewitt, Jen Lynds, Sharon Mack, Bill Trotter and The Associated Press contributed to this story.