A windstorm with gusts of 50 to 60 mph swept across Maine on Saturday, knocking out electricity to more than 67,000 customers as trees and limbs came down on power lines.
As of 8:12 p.m. Saturday, Central Maine Power reported 34,593 customers without electricity. Many of the outages, 6,829, occurred in York County, where Old Orchard Beach had 1,610 customers without power and Saco had 1,420. There were 5,376 outages in Kennebec County and 2,862 in Cumberland County, where Standish had 501 outages and Freeport, 488. In northern and eastern Maine, Emera Maine reported 33,002 customers without power at 8:07 p.m.
There were preliminary reports of downed trees in South Portland, Yarmouth, Westbrook and numerous other communities in Maine. The Richmond Fire Department reported that Plummer Road experienced a downed tree and wires, temporarily closing the road.
But the windstorm was not expected to be as severe as the one in October 2017, when gusts reached 70 to 80 mph and caused massive power outages.
“This windstorm is not going to be anywhere close to that,” said Eric Sinsabaugh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.
In the 2017 storm, which slammed Maine on Oct. 29 and 30, nearly 500,000 lost electricity. Thousands were without power for more than a week, and President Trump declared in January that Maine would be eligible for federal disaster relief. CMP estimated the windstorm cost $69 million for its customers.
Sinsabaugh said the steady rain on Saturday and the fact that trees still have most of their leaves would cause the wet branches that fall to be heavier than bare limbs. That means when the winds do knock down trees or limbs, they are more likely to take down power lines.
“The highest winds will be in southern Maine and along the coast,” Sinsabaugh said Saturday afternoon.
High wind warnings were expected to end by late Saturday, and the warnings stretched from the New Hampshire line to Augusta, Lewiston, Sanford, Rockland and near Bangor.
On Sunday, the forecast is for sunny weather with highs near 50. A mix of clouds, rain and sun is expected for the rest of the week, with high temperatures in the low to mid-50s.
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