First major snowstorm of the season leaves thousands without power

Maine (WABI) - Maine’s first major snowstorm of the season brought heavy, wet snow, causing power outages across the state.

Power companies continue to restore power for customers impacted by the storm that hit the area Friday and Saturday.

Central Maine Power has more than 1,500 line and tree workers out Sunday restoring power.

More than 120,000 customers lost power due to the storm and as of 9 a.m. Sunday approximately 72,000 had been restored.

The company says as restoration progresses across their service area, they will shift resources to Oxford and Androscoggin counties, areas hit hardest by the storm.

“For those customers who remain without power we are focused today on providing estimates of when they will be restored as we are making system repairs,” said Kerri Therriault, senior director, Electric Operations. “While the heavy snow still creates some hazards on the system, with the improvement in the road conditions we are able to move more quickly and efficiently today to investigate remaining system damage and communicate restoration estimates to customers and make repairs.”

“Loaded” trees continue to be a safety concern in Northern Maine today. Heavy snow weighs branches that can snap and fall onto utility poles and wires especially as temperatures warm. We would urge you to use caution when walking or driving around them. We do! pic.twitter.com/hWIwqWGh2F
— Central Maine Power (@cmpco) December 18, 2022

CMP reminds customers to remember the following if they have lost power:

Stay away from downed lines. No line is safe to touch.
Turn off or unplug major appliance and sensitive electronics.
Never use range or outdoor stoves to heat your home.
If you need shelter or food, reach out to 211 for available resource.

Click here to view the list of Central Maine Power outages.

Line workers from Versant Power are working to restore power to approximately 11,400 customers across our service area with high concentrations of outages in Lincoln and surrounding areas, including Medway, Mattawamkeag, Millinocket, and more. FMI: https://t.co/hxFuY6BK3c
— Versant Power (@versantpower) December 18, 2022

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, line workers from Versant Power are working to restore power to approximately 11,400 customers across their service area with high concentrations of outages in Lincoln and surrounding areas, including Medway, Mattawamkeag, Millinocket, and more.

Click here to view the list of Versant Power outages.