Hurricane Irene ”“ or Tropical Storm Irene to Mainers ”“ left destruction in its path, and some serious damage in the state despite the limited impacts felt by many Maine residents.
The rush to pull boats from marinas and board windows near the beach seemed to be overkill, even as the winds whipped trees and Irene dumped rains on the region. Although many trees were downed, as well as utility poles, the damage in Maine is under control.
Despite the possibly too heavy-handed response, having plans in place allowed power crews to respond right away and local officials to open shelters and get public works, and fire and safety personnel to work.
The big news has really been the lack of electricity for hundreds of thousands across the state for several days after there was not a drop of rain or patch of ice or snow in sight.
Central Maine Power Company set its own goal of getting 50,000 back on line each day. And while it met that goal, those who lost power would have liked to see the company move much faster.
As of Wednesday morning, 44,000 customers remained without power and CMP said full restoration should be reached by Thursday night.
But the outages, which peaked at nearly 187,000 customers on Sunday night, seemed to be focused in Southern Maine, while the early response was only in northern Maine.
On Wednesday, outages in Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Franklin and Somerset counties numbered in the hundreds, while Knox had just six and Penobscot only three. At the same time, Cumberland and York counties, the most populated and southern-most in the state, had more than 25,000 still without power.
In western York County, the situation was much worse, where towns sustained more damage than some other areas due to downed trees and impassable roads. On Wednesday morning, 98 percent of Central Maine Power customers in Newfield did not have electricity and 94 percent of customers in Shapleigh didn’t either.
CMP reported that their crews didn’t move to the southern part of state until Wednesday, after work concluded in more northern counties. It seems a more even distribution of workers would have helped more York County residents get back online sooner.
All in all, the response to the storm was well-organized and efficient, with EMA offices warning people about moving items into garages; stocking up on food, water, flashlights and batteries; having an evacuation plan in place; and checking on elderly neighbors and loved ones.
Despite some minor hassles, the state was well-served by being prepared, even if some of us are still in the dark.
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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham, on behalf of the Journal Tribune editorial board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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