BATH — High winds knocked out power for over 30,0000 of Central Maine Power’s 655,314 customers Tuesday, leaving them to cope with below-zero wind chills.
Over 700 of the 21,896 Central Maine Power customers in Sagadahoc County were without power as of 10 a.m. Tuesday. Hardest hit were Bath, with 264 outages, and Phippsburg, with 402 outages, according to CMP’s website.
In Cumberland County, 207 of the company’s 4,670 customers in Harpswell were without power Tuesday morning. By 2 p.m., that number shrank to 113, and in Phippsburg, 488 customers were without power.
At 2 p.m., 650 of CMP’s 1,212 Georgetown customers were without power, but all but five Woolwich household had their power restored.
By 4 p.m., Phippsburg outages shrank to 339, Bath outages fell to 174, and all but 20 Georgetown customers had their power restored, according to CMP’s website. In Harpswell, 93 of the company’s 4,670 customers were still without power.
Catharine Hartnett, CMP spokesperson, said the company doesn’t know exactly when everyone will have their power restored because high wind gusts have persisted throughout the day, making repairs difficult.
“The wind has persisted and so we’ll make a repair in one place and have a tree go down in another,” said Hartnett. “It feels like one step forward and two steps back. We’ll post restoration times when available, but with the wind, it’ll be very choppy today.”
Hartnett said the company has had to be careful when repairing wires because the bucket trucks can’t be used in winds over about 40 mph.
The National Weather Service reported sustained winds of 20-30 mph with gusts up to about 55 mph in the southern Midcoast Tuesday. The organization issued a wind advisory for all of Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Knox counties and part of Cumberland County that was effective until 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Sarah Bennett, Sagadahoc County Emergency Management Agency director, said she hadn’t received any reports of emergencies such as downed trees or power lines, but is aware of power outages throughout Sagadahoc County.
Bennett said anyone who loses power should find a warm place to stay because losing power and heat with cold temperatures can be a dangerous combination.
Morning temperatures hovered in the single digits, but area wind chills were about -6, according to the National Weather Service. By midday, temperatures had reached the teens and low 20s, but wind chills never left the single digits.
“Sagadahoc County does not have any warming centers open at this time,” Bennett wrote in an email to The Times Record Tuesday. “Any requests should go directly to the local emergency management director, however, requests can be initiated through our county Emergency Operations Center.”
Bennett also recommended people run their taps “to prevent broken water pipes and always use generators outdoors to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and fires.”
Widespread power outages caused Chop Point School, a K-12 school in Woolwich, to cancel school “due to loss of power on campus,” the school wrote on its Facebook page. Harpswell Coastal Academy, a charter school in Harpswell, also moved its middle school to online remote learning on Tuesday “due to a power outage and dangerous winds,” the school wrote in a Facebook post.
The wind will subside Tuesday night, but temperatures will stay in the teens with wind chills as low at -4 in the Bath area, according to the National Weather Service. The sun will return on Wednesday and temperatures will reach the high 30s with five to 10 mph wind.
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