Versant Power is working around the clock to restore electricity to thousands of Mainers this holiday.
As heavy rain and escalating winds moved through the state Thursday, lights went out first in the state's mores southern counties, and then outages began to increase in Hancock, Piscataquis and Penobscot counties only increased.
"We are seeing wind gusts as high as 60 miles per hour and beyond," says Judy Long, communications manager at Versant Power.
Strong winds knocked trees and tree branches onto power lines, resulting in damage and service interruption.
At 2:45 p.m. on Christmas Day, Versant Power reported 68 active outages and 2,849 total customers affected of 163,670 total customers served by the utility.
"We first address 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," says Long.
After focusing on public safety efforts, the company works 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 says.
"We have managed to bring thousands of customers who have experienced service interruptions back online Christmas morning and into the afternoon," says Long.
"We know we will be working into the evening and beyond to get service restored," says Long.
Long tells NEWS CENTER Maine sometimes it's not easy to assess where the damage stems from, so it takes crews longer than usual to restore power. "Sometimes there are cases where a tree or a branch may fall onto a line and interrupt power, and then continue to fall to the ground, so it may not be obvious at first glance for our crews what is the problem," she says.
If there is a downed line or tree in your area, Versant Power asks customers to please call (207) 973-2000 to report the damage so crews to get to the area and work on the problem. Also, never touch a downed power line or a tree in contact with a downed line. If you see crews working in your area, please slow down and move over or change lanes to let them work and quickly assess what the cause of the outage is.
Versant Power’s service territory spans 10,400 square miles in five counties including Hancock, Piscataquis, Washington, Aroostook counties, and most of Penobscot County.
More information about how Versant prepared for today's storm is provided here.
Click here for updated restoration estimates.