MAINE, USA — Utility crews in Maine spent the morning attending to power outages caused by a Christmas storm that didn’t cause as much disruption as had been feared.
"We first address(ed) anything having to do with public safety, so any reports of downed lines in public ways, our crews will handle those first to make sure we keep people safe," said Judy Long, spokesperson for Versant Power.
After focusing on public safety efforts, the company worked on damage assessment and restoring power to all customers. "There is some work from buckets that we are not able to do when the winds are very strong," Long said.
"We have managed to bring thousands of customers who have experienced service interruptions back online Christmas morning and into the afternoon," says Long.
Total customers without power Christmas day peaked at less than 10,000 between Central Maine Power and Versant Power. Both companies were able to keep ahead of any major outages.
Minor flooding became the issue in Maine Friday night and Saturday morning.
The Kennebec River flooded parts of Front Street Saturday morning, an area notorious for being impacted during any high water times.
Most Maine flood watches are expected to expire early Saturday evening.
In New Hampshire, the largest utility was responding to outages affecting fewer than 60 homes and businesses as of Saturday morning.
Forecasts called for heavy wind and rains, which arrived on Friday. However, the storm failed to match the havoc caused by previous storms this year that knocked power out for tens of thousands of people.
NEWS CENTER Maine's Jess Conley and Ryan Breton called for calmer weather on Saturday and Sunday in Maine and coastal New Hampshire.
The temps will be turning colder Saturday, after a cold front passed through overnight. In many cases, the high temperature for the day has already occurred in the early morning hours.
Temperatures will remain in the 30s through the day, with a gusty wind. There will be clearing over southern and central Maine with a partly sunny sky. Clouds may linger in the mountains and north, with some flurries and snow showers.
Saturday night, it will remain breezy, with lows in the 20s and a clearing sky.
Sunday looks nice, with sunshine and high temperatures in the low to mid 30s. The wind will be lighter as well, from the west 5-10 mph.