Emergency responders and utility crews were working to repair damage to power lines, roads and flooded areas Wednesday, two days after a nor’easter lashed the state, leaving thousands without power, closing roads and downing trees.

In Westbrook, a Central Maine Power Co. worker and a utility crew from Presque Isle went to the rescue of cold, stranded elderly Wednesday. Several residents in part of Longfellow Place accessed by Huntress Avenue had been without power since Monday because of downed power lines, which closed the road.

“We’re going to get on it,” said CMP worker Bob Haskell of South Portland, jumping out of an orange pickup truck at about 11 a.m.

By Tuesday evening, Central Maine Power Co. had restored power to more than half of the 127,585 customers who lost power during the storm, which brought high winds that snapped trees, branches and utility poles and heavy rain that flooded rivers and brooks, damaging homes businesses, bridges and roads. Of the 56,345 customers who still had no power Tuesday night 17,363 of them were in the Portland area – one of the hardest hit by the storm.

Central Maine Power Co. was expecting to receive assistance this week from additional utility crews from Canadian maritime provinces New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as tree removal crews from New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

“It’s the worst we’ve seen since the ice storm of 1998,” said Central Maine Power spokeswoman Gail Rice.

Community shelters were quickly set up in Westbrook, Gorham and Buxton to provide food and warmth to residents struggling to cope without electricity and, in many cases, with flooded basements.

Yvonne Dickson, manager of Longfellow Place, said 22 apartments had been without power since Monday. “We don’t have a generator,” said Dickson.

Longfellow Place resident Lorraine Poitras evacuated to her sister’s home in Westbrook, but she said others felt stranded there. She described several of the ladies as frail.

“It’s so cold and raw in the apartments,” Poitras said.

Joseph St. Peter, 82, left in a pickup truck Wednesday to get medication for his wife and had to detour when he found Huntress Avenue closed.

“It’s uncomfortable for her. We can’t cook, can’t wash,” St. Peter said. “It’s getting cold in there – 40 degrees.”

Widespread damage

Along the Presumpscot River on Monday, the wind buffeted the trees back and forth and bent them over in gusts. It blew fast-moving waves running over the surface of the water.

The water itself was moving fast and smooth between the falls, carrying broken tree trunks and whole trees and debris from neighborhoods. At the falls the water cascaded over the rocks in a rush that swept the trees over like matchsticks.

In the parking lot behind the former Dana Warp Mill, cars drove up one by one to see the river. At Saccarappa Falls across from the mill, residents jumped out of their cars with cameras and camera phones to snap pictures of the water surging over the falls. Across the river, power lines that normally hung safely in the air plunged dangerously into the current beneath the East Bridge Street spur.

The bridge over the Presumpscot near the former mill was closed late Monday but was open for the morning commute.

Trees downed by heavy winds crashed onto homes in Gorham and Buxton. Bill Roberts, who manned the Buxton Emergency Operation Center, said a tree crashed through a roof on Tapley Road, which caused extensive damage.

Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre said a tree in Gorham destroyed a trailer home in Friendly Village and another home on Parker Hill Road sustained severe damage when a tree crushed a roof. “There’s some pretty significant damage out there,” said Lefebvre.

Downed power lines and trees left Methodist Road in Westbrook closed Tuesday, according to a dispatcher. But Route 302 and East Bridge Street reopened at noon Tuesday after flood waters receded.

In Westbrook neighborhoods, trees were down on nearly every street, some uprooted altogether and cast down over lawns and fences, shrubs and landscaping, garages and homes.

Trash cans lay on their sides with the lids blown across the lawn. Stone bird feeders lay in the grass. Mail boxes were blown clean off their posts. And portable basketball hoops lay across driveways instead of standing beside them.

On every street, broken branches littered roads and lawns, bushes and shrubbery were blown to pieces, carefully planned landscaping was leveled and fences were broken.

Several roads in Buxton and Gorham remained closed Tuesday. In Gorham, Sgt. Bob Mailman of Gorham police said the list of roads closed included Wood Road, Morrill Avenue and parts of Brackett Road, where a bridge went out near the intersection with McLellan Road.

Mailman said a car Monday was in the water off Burnham Road, leaving a motorist to wade to safety. “Someone went around a barricade and got stuck in the water,” Mailman said.

Saco Street near the Gorham-Westbrook line had closed during the height of the storm but was open Tuesday.

In Buxton, Bill Roberts at the town’s Emergency Operations Center said Tuesday about 10 roads were still partially closed and two dozen others were one lane in areas.

A section of Route 112 was closed Monday because of downed power lines, causing a detour near the Elliot Road. The lines laid across the road all day Monday, according to a Buxton fire police Erlon Townsend.

Roberts said Route 22 remained open throughout the storm, although there was flooding in fields along the road. The roads partially closed Tuesday because of down trees and power lines included Flaggy Meadow, Rankin, Pease and Dunnell roads along with Cousens Road.

Roberts said culverts weren’t big enough to handle the deluge of water.

High winds snapped several poles on Morrill Avenue that leads to Gorham High School.

Sgt. Dan Young said Monday about half the town was without power with lines down. Young said Monday that Gorham police were in cruises in various places in town in case of emergencies. “We’ve got five officers on around the clock,” Young said.

The three communities set up emergency shelters. Buxton’s was at the Groveville Fire Department. It was mostly used for showers. Bill Roberts said no one was evacuated to the shelter and no one stayed overnight.

Gorham Public Works Department employees had been called in at 5 a.m. Monday. Dana Bellefountaine said the department was kept busy setting up barriers on roads and cutting down trees with chain saws. Another public works employee, Jeff Grant, said water had undermined some roads. “It’ll take a long time to make repairs,” Grant said.

Gorham Police Officer Ted Hatch said Monday night trees were breaking everywhere. Hatch worked a 12-hour shift stationed at the shelter until 3 a.m. Tuesday. He was there along with rescue and firefighters prepared for emergencies.

In Westbrook, Sam Viola, who owns two 75-foot fishing boats, tied up in Portland, doubled mooring lines as an extra precaution against heavy sea swells. “All commercial boats came through fine,” Viola said about noon Monday. “The worst is over.”

High waters

The raging river waters of the Presumpscot overflowed a Sappi parking lot behind Warren Memorial Library by 11 a.m. Monday, and was threatening homes near the Brown Street river bank.

In downtown Westbrook, Joe Michaud was snapping photos of the falls to e-mail to his dad in another state. “This is something,” Michaud said. “It’s like Hurricane Bob.”

Peter Jaques of Westbrook along with his wife, Gail, and their son, Jonathan, 9, stopped on Brown Street about noon to view the rushing waters from a pickup truck. Peter Jaques said the drive-through at Dunkin’ Donuts at Route 302 and East Bridge Street was under water.

Officer Inger Cyr was in a cruiser at Vallee Square. “Route 302 is completely closed,” she said. “Water is over the road.”

Steve Preston and his brother, Zack Preston, had driven through water that came over the floor of his car near Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 302. They made it to the bridge near the Dana Mill, where the car conked out.

The brothers pushed the car off the bridge and called AAA on a pay phone.

“I’ve lived in this area all my life and I’ve never seen water this high,” said Dean Day, 18, a high school senior, eyeing the river from the boardwalk.

The bridge was closed Monday evening and National Guard troops were posted there. The bridge was open for the Tuesday morning commute.

Guardsmen were called out to direct traffic Tuesday morning as power remained out in downtown Westbrook. Traffic signals at Vallee Square and at the intersections of William Clarke Drive with Main Street and Saco Street were not operating.

Lt. Lisa Sessions, executive officer of Company B in Westbrook, said Monday that the guard was standing by to assist in emergencies. “We might be asked if it keeps up,” Sessions said. “We’ve got chain saws and strong backs,” Sessions said.

SSgt. Edward Graves said Company B had bulldozers, loaders and dump trucks. Graves said he had 18 soldiers there Monday and they could swing into action within 15 minutes.

Cyr said basements of homes on River Street had flooded at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Pumping water from residential basements kept fire departments busy Monday and Tuesday. Buxton, which had three pumping crews, hoped to finish a list of 60 Tuesday.

Lefebvre said Tuesday that Gorham had pumped water from 50 to 60 basements and had more left to do.

Gorham Village didn’t lose power. Jim Irish, manager at the Big Apple on Main Street said customers were buying gas for generators and chain saws. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s business as usual,” Irish said.

Judy Lopez, a clerk at Gorham’s Big Apple, said people were coming from other towns like Waterboro, Buxton and Hollis to get their gas in Gorham.

Power was restored to the 650 residents at Friendly Village in Gorham Tuesday afternoon. But because of the power outage, water pressure from two wells supplying the village had dropped to zero, which caused a state regulation to mandate Friendly Village residents to boil drinking water.

John Richard of Gorham, property manager at Friendly Village, said the boil water order is for 5 minutes for all water used for drinking, cooking or brushing teeth.

“Every household has to boil water,” said Richard, a licensed water distribution operator, who will take three random water samples at Friendly Village to be tested.

Richard said floodwaters didn’t overflow the wells. The boil order will be rescinded as soon as the state is satisfied the water is all right.

Rice, at Central Maine Power, said the Portland area sustained 72 broken utility poles, and that number could climb. “It’s the worst we’ve seen since the ice storm of 1998,” Rice said.

Joseph St. Peter, 82, leaves Longfellow Place, a home for the elderly in Westbrook, where some residents were still without power Wednesday morning. St. Peter was leaving to get medication for his wife. ere A utility crew from Presque Isle works to restore power to Longfellow Place in Westbrook, where many elderly residents were getting cold Wednesday morning.

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