49K+ Maine Households Are Starting Their Wednesday With No Power

As another wind and precipitation storm crosses the state, over 49,000 Maine households are waking up to no power.

Why Are There So Many Outages?

Discouraging is the only word for it. Or, at least, the only word I'll use in this article. Many residents have just recovered from the pre-Christmas outage that shut down electricity for much of the state for days on end, and now another storm is turning out the lights. This storm is a mixed bag of snow, sleet, rain, and winds that are gusting up to 70 miles per hour along the coast and 55 to 60 mph inland. The snow is very wet so it's heavy on the trees and power lines, which is causing problems when combined with the wind.

How Does It Break Down, Between the 2 Power Companies?

As of 7:39 this morning, both of Maine's public utility companies were reporting outages, most of which are in the Central Maine Power regions.

• Versant Power had 7,804 customers without power
• CMP had 41,467

Those totals are going up every time I look at their sites, but crews will be out restoring power as quickly as is possible, while being safe. My understanding is that there were out-of-state crews in Maine on Tuesday, so hopefully this outage won't be as long as the last.

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If you lose power, contact your power company to report it. Don't assume that your neighbors are going to do it.

• Central Maine Power's Outage Line - 800-696-1000
• Versant Power's Outage Line - 207-973-2000 or 1-855-363-7211

What Can We Do To Prepare?

Some of Maine's public safety officers posted a video this week on the Facebook page for the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, reminding people about how to stay safe in a storm and instructing them to call if they need help.

Take it slow on the roads today and avoid distractions, as Sheriff Morton says in the video. Along with the road conditions, which will be changing as the precipitation changes over to all rain, be prepared for obstacles in the roadway. You may come across anything from downed trees to wayward trash cans. Remember the words of the tortoise when he competed against the rabbit - slow and easy wins the race.