Storm claims third life; damage estimates high

PORTLAND – Gov. John Baldacci took to the air Wednesday for a bird’s-eye view of damage left by a deadly nor’easter as utility crews below toiled around the clock to restore service to thousands of Mainers still in the dark.

The storm also claimed a third life. In Sanford, a man who was using a gas-powered generator for electricity died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Baldacci and Maine Emergency Management Agency Director Robert McAleer flew in a Coast Guard helicopter over southern Maine, which got the brunt of the storm. After the two-hour flight, Baldacci said the storm had left a “scar” on large parts of the state.

He later requested a federal disaster declaration to free up federal funds for the cleanup effort. With only four counties partially reporting, early estimates put damage to public property and infrastructure at more than $11 million, the governor said. That total does not include damage to private property.

“There are still tremendous amounts of water in people’s backyards,” Baldacci said. “We’ve gotten reports of some 200 homes whose foundations have been impacted just in Wells.”

General conditions were improving as Federal Emergency Management Agency inspectors arrived in Maine and utility crews cut their way through downed trees to restore service to tens of thousands of customers still without power three days after the storm hit.

No dollar figure has been attached to the damages, but officials say damages in York County will exceed those from last May’s storms that washed out bridges and roads and damaged hundreds of businesses and homes. Baldacci said the damages are clearly above the threshold needed to receive federal assistance.

Road and bridge conditions were improving as waters began leveling off and receding, said John Stanley of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

The Maine Department of Transportation has identified about 30 bridges with storm-related problems, mainly washed-out approaches, but a number of roads and bridges hadn’t been assessed because they were still under water, he said.

Amtrak’s Downeaster, which runs between Portland and Boston, canceled service for a third consecutive day, while the state-run ferry service to Maine’s island communities ran sporadically depending on the seas and winds.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said rain and showers could continue into Thursday before making way for sun and warmer temperatures on Friday. The weekend was expected to be sunny with highs ranging from the mid-50s to the lower 60s.

“We’re going to see gradual improvement,” said Art Lester of the National Weather Service. “It’s finally starting to drift far enough away to loosen its grip on things.”

As of Wednesday, Sanford had received the most rain, with 8.24 inches, Lester said. Many communities in York, Cumberland and Oxford counties topped 6 inches.

The storm has caused the most power outages since the 1998 ice storm that paralyzed Maine and knocked power out to more than a quarter million customers.

On Wednesday afternoon, Central Maine Power Co. reported an estimated 31,000 homes and businesses were without power, down from a peak of 127,585 outages. Bangor Hydro-Electric had fewer than 200 outages.

More than 60 utility crew workers arrived Wednesday from Massachusetts, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to help CMP restore power. They joined other line crews that arrived Tuesday from northern Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as tree removal crews from Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

About 1,000 line workers, tree removal specialists and others were in the field working on repairs, CMP said.

Despite making progress, CMP officials were warning that some people might be without power until the end of the week.

“It’s a huge number of trees that are down, so it’s a big job cutting those away,” said CMP spokesman John Carroll. “Plus there are 250 broken poles. That’s an enormous number of poles.”

In Sanford, officials were called to a home Wednesday afternoon where a 56-year-old man died, apparently from fumes from a power generator, said Fire Chief Raymond Parent. The victim, whose name was not released, had lost power in his home on Monday, the chief said.

It was the third death attributed to the storm. During the height of the storm’s fury on Monday, a Lebanon woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter died as they tried to cross a washed-out section of road to get to the woman’s home.