Hurricane Irene, downgraded in status to a tropical storm by the time the system reached New England, still caused problems across the region, although York County managed to escape the brunt of the impact.
Central Maine Power Company reported 46,110 power outages in York County on Monday morning ”“ the highest countywide total in the state, according to spokesperson Gail Rice.
Rice advised people to be patient, as it may be a few days before residents in more remote areas have their power restored.
“We’re still in the early stage of the damage assessment,” said Rice, “so it’s hard to pinpoint an exact timeframe.”
York County Emergency Management Agency was directing local fire and road crews to locations county-wide where trees had fallen across roadways or across power lines.
York County EMA director Kim White-Kaiser said the action commenced in the southern part of the county about 7:30 a.m. Sunday and continued non-stop through about 9 p.m.
This morning, Kaiser-White said she has heard from Hollis Fire Chief George Davis, who told her local crews were working in the Hollis, Buxton and Cornish areas, still dealing with tree limbs that had fallen onto powerlines.
Municipal emergency operations centers throughout the county were open Sunday and at least 10 remained open this morning, said White-Kaiser.
In Sanford, Assistant Fire Chief Steve Benotti said fire crews were called to New Dam Road late Sunday afternoon after fire broke out when a tree came down and ripped the electrical entrance from the house. The fire was minor and was put out by the homeowner before crews arrived, he said.
Of the 70 runs made by Sanford Fire Department Sunday, most were tree-related, Benotti said.
Steve Boucouvalas, emergency management director for the City of Saco, said the storm fell short of his department’s expectations in terms of the negative effects experienced locally.
“We haven’t had any flooding at all,” said Boucouvalas, “and there’s been no extensive damage.
“There are some trees down, and a few (power) outages here and there. It’s been more of a nuisance than anything else. I think, all in all, we’ve come out of this a lot better than we thought we would.”
A few shelters were open across the county, including Wells Elementary School and the community center in Saco, in case residents needed a place to go. Boucouvalas said that he knew of a few individuals who decided to take advantage of the Franklin Street shelter, but that most people elected to stay home and ride out the worst of the weather.
He added that power outages in Saco were sparse.
“We’ve got several areas throughout the community that are without power, but it’s very sporadic,” he said on Sunday.
According to meteorologist Mike Kistner of the National Weather Service’s Forecast Office in Gray, southern Maine experienced modest rainfall totals during Tropical Storm Irene ”“ about 2-4 inches in most places.
More significant in York County were the wind gusts; although Kistner did not have exact figures for York County specifically, he said that wind gusts in nearby Portland reached 53 miles per hour at their highest, short of the 63 mph winds that were recorded in Portsmouth, N.H., the highest recorded on the seacoast by early Sunday evening.
Maine, he said, was spared much of the rainfall because it was east of the storm. To the west, New Hampshire experienced higher rainfall totals but weaker wind gusts.
“The impacts that we’ve seen with the flooding has been pretty bad (according to) the early reports we’ve had from New Hampshire,” said Kistner, noting that reports had indicated more than a foot of rainfall in the White Mountains region.
Since hurricanes and tropical storms are rare occurrences in New England, Kistner and meteorologists along the East Coast have been tracking the weather system closely. Although Mainers may be relieved that the storm didn’t live up to its potential for damage, Kistner said the impact of the event is about what the National Weather Service had anticipated.
He marveled at the rarity of such an event. “I think the last one to have this kind of impact was (Hurricane) Bob back in 1991,” he said. “It’s been quite a while. You get maybe one every 20 years. Before Bob there was Hurricane Gloria in 1985, but before that you have to go back to Hurricane Carol in 1954.”
Boucouvalas said that despite the relatively minimal impact locally, he was glad his department had prepared as well as it did.
“My assistant, Artie Green, is the guy who’s been overseeing things the past few days,” said Boucouvalas. “We’ve put a lot of resources into place. The expectation ”¦ of the storm was a lot greater than the (impact) was, and we’re happy that it didn’t get to the point where it was really bad.”
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells contributed to this story. Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319, or by e-mail at jlagasse@journaltribune.com.
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