MAINE, Maine — More than 75,000 customers woke up without power on Christmas, according to outage maps from Maine power companies Central Maine Power and Versant Power. This is a decrease of about 125,000 powerless customers compared to Saturday morning.
Crews have been working feverishly throughout the holiday to help restore power. As of 11:00 p.m. Sunday, Central Maine Power reported about 21,057 customers without power, and Versant reported 12,110 customers affected.
The storm that barreled across the state Friday brought heavy rain and severe winds, with gusts meeting expectations that reached the 70-mph range along the coastline and mid-60s inland.
"We had about 300,000 customers impacted totally over the course of the event,” Joe Purington, CMP president and CEO, said.
Both power companies reported in news releases that crews are working to restore power, clear roads, and safely fix downed powerlines.
Safety protocols permit linemen to go up in bucket trucks when wind speeds are below 30 miles per hour, according to a post CMP shared Friday morning on Twitter.
CMP and Versant Power both stated how this is one of the worst storms the state has seen in years and even compares it to the 2017 storm.
CMP said crews are working 17-hour days to get your power back up and running but added that it could take a couple more days until all of Maine is back to having power. At the very latest, they said, people could be without power until late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.
Versant customers who were without power by 10 p.m. on Saturday should expect to be without power overnight, a news release issued by the company at about 9 p.m. stated. The company also said they were expecting a five-day restoration process.
This story will be updated throughout the day as new information becomes available.