MAINE, USA — Thousands of Mainers are still in the dark Monday, three days after a powerful rain and windstorm blanketed the state.
"It was really hurricane-level damage in terms of the devastation we saw on the system," Versant Power President John Flynn said.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 6,000 Versant customers remained without power. Around 3,5000 Central Maine Power customers were without power Monday, as of 6 p.m.
"Our teams are gonna be out there until every last one of our customers are with power again," CMP President and CEO Joe Purington said.
Both power companies said the high winds and heavy rains caused a major amount of damage, particularly to utility poles. According to Purington, CMP has 300 poles broken during the storm, which was the most since October 2017. Flynn was not positive about the exact number of broken poles but said it was a big issue for Versant crews as well.
"It was an unprecedented level of damaged poles," Flynn said. "Something I've never seen. Up in Aroostook County, we had one road where there were six primary poles in a row that were snapped in half by the wind."
Purington said most customers can expect to have their power restored this evening. However, some communities like western Oxford County, parts of York County, and the Brunswick area likely will not have power restored until Tuesday.
"We're continuing to collapse crews into the hardest hit areas so that we can restore as quickly as possible," Purington said.
"We have about 650 contractor line crews in working, 300 tree crews in addition to our internal crews. So, there are literally thousands out there working to restore power," Purington said.
For Versant Power, Flynn said most of the remaining damage is in Hancock County. He said on Monday, more than 60 crews were in that county working on restoration and tree clearing. Flynn said much of the restoration still ahead is for lines with fewer customers.
"You're doing a significant amount of work to bring on a few customers. So, it's gonna take a couple more days before we feel like we're pretty well cleaned up," Flynn said.
Versant Power anticipates customers in Central Aroostook, Southern Penobscot, and Washington counties to have power restored by the end of Tuesday, and remote areas may not be restored until Wednesday.