Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Staff photo by John Patriquin
On the rain-swollen Little Ossipee River, rescue workers evacuate Pauline Warg, holding her dog, plus Gary Snider and two other residents from their homes in Limington along Chadbourne Ridge Road on Tuesday. Restoring power to tens of thousands is a priority after Monday's storm.
Staff photo by John Patriquin
A wave washes over a jetty along the Kennebunk River in Kennebunkport at high tide on Tuesday. Tides and waves combined to wash out many coastal roads.
Work crews and homeowners will continue cleaning up today from a destructive spring storm that washed out roads, uprooted trees and trashed power lines across southern Maine.
With more than 70,000 homes and businesses still without power Tuesday night, and more rain predicted to fall today, emergency management officials braced themselves for the fact that the damage might not yet be done.
Heavy rains backed by winds that gusted up to 80 mph along the coast combined with some of the highest tides in a decade to flood low-lying coastal areas.
Inland, already-high streams and rivers topped their banks, blowing out culverts and shutting down rural roads throughout the region.
Gov. John Baldacci urged caution at a press briefing Tuesday.
"I'm asking our citizens to put safety first for themselves and their families. Don't take any unnecessary risks," Baldacci said. "I'm also asking for patience. It will take time to assess, plan and recover. In the meantime, no one will be left out in the cold, wet weather If you are in need, you will be taken care of."
Baldacci advised people to call 911 for emergencies, 211 for a list of shelters and to report to their towns any damage to homes or businesses.
Central Maine Power Co. had 750 workers in the field from Eliot to Rockland throughout Monday night, attempting to tame live wires brought down by wind and sodden trees.
The focus changed to restoring power to more than 100,000 customers Tuesday morning, with help from reinforcements from as far away as New Brunswick and Pennsylvania.
By midafternoon, more than 825 line workers, tree removal specialists and field planners were at work on repairs, backed up by another 300 support personnel at the company's regional offices.
The company planned to have some crews working through the night.
By Tuesday evening, 71,000 customers were still without power, and even with the extra effort, CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice was not ready to estimate when everyone's power would be restored.
"So much as of now has been focused on public safety issues," she said. "We need to make the situation safe for workers and emergency responders."
Work will focus first on major arteries, then on branch lines and finally on smaller lines, she said. Some customers on small side roads could be without power for several days.
In addition to fallen trees and limbs, CMP workers were dealing with at least 206 utility poles that were brought down by the high winds.
There were 44,900 homes and businesses in the Portland service area without power, making the city one of the most affected parts of the state.
City officials said that as much as 40 percent of the city was without power Tuesday, with the hardest hit areas in the city west of the Maine Turnpike, in Deering Center and on Munjoy Hill.
Portland's islands were without power, and storm damage to a water main that services Great Diamond and Peaks islands resulted in an order for residents to boil their water before drinking it.
Since that can be impossible for some people without power, the city was distributing bottled water on the islands Tuesday afternoon, said Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne.
Speaking from the city's emergency command center at Portland Arts & Technology High School, LaMontagne said that there was still a lot of work to do.
"We're kind of in a transition between emergency response and restoration," LaMontagne said.
"Our first goal is to get all the roadways open and our second thing is to make sure that all our power is secure, and then begin restoration."
LaMontagne reminded residents that they should always assume any wire they see could be live. He said that standing water in roadways would be a dangerous fact of life for several days at least.
"We've had a pretty big hit to the infrastructure here," he said.
Metro buses and the Casco Bay ferry lines resumed normal service Tuesday, but flights from the Portland International Jetport were experiencing some delays. Amtrak's Downeaster train service to Boston was canceled Monday and Tuesday while repair work continued on flooded tracks in New Hampshire.
The service could resume today. Travelers are encouraged to check the Downeaster's Web site, amtrakdowneaster.com, for the latest information.
Concord Trailways bus service to Logan Airport and South Station in Boston was not interrupted.
Portland's public works crews were out clearing downed trees from roadways so CMP crews could begin working on the lines.
Thousands of Time Warner Cable customers were also without service for cable TV, high-speed Internet and phone service. The company was working with CMP to gain access to cable customers, according to the company Web site.
The storm also sent Portland police detectives looking for cover as wind billowed the rubber roofing on the city's public safety building, allowing water to pour into the fourth floor.
Officers rescued the division's computers and important files, but large sections of the ceiling were covered with plastic Tuesday. Trash cans and buckets collecting water were scattered throughout the floor and on desks.
Detectives and command staff were relocated to other areas of the building until the roof can be repaired.
The storm made life busy for all of the city's public safety officers.
Dispatchers handled 970 police and fire calls for service on Monday, compared with 290 calls on Patriot's Day last year, said Capt. Vern Malloch.
The storm uprooted dozens of city trees in Portland, including several white and red oaks in Deering Oaks that were planted in the 1800s, said Jeffrey Tarling, city arborist.
The storm also ripped up several spruces planted at Fort Allen Park in the 1920s, as well as several linden and hawthorn trees along Baxter Boulevard.
"Portland has a long tradition as the Forest City and some of its greatest trees have been lost," Tarling said.
Tarling said his crew would focus on removing trees from roads and power lines, then do a citywide assessment of storm damage. He will wait to remove downed trees from city parks until the ground dries and hardens to avoid causing further damage.
New trees cost about $200 each, Tarling said, and will be paid for through the city's tree trust.
With homes flooded and power failures widespread, many residents ventured out to find necessities such as gas-powered electricity generators, sump pumps, wet/dry vacuum cleaners and chain saws.
There was a scarcity of the items in many stores, including large home improvement chains such as Lowe's and Home Depot.
Many of the goods were restocked by late Tuesday as companies worked around the clock to get items on store shelves.
Karen Cobb, spokesperson for Lowe's, said the company operates two emergency command centers in North Carolina that can distribute products during disasters or national emergencies.
Tia Robinson, a spokesperson for Home Depot, said most stores were restocked Tuesday. More than 30 trucks delivered supplies to stores in Maine, including Portland, North Windham and Topsham.
Some Mainers sought refuge at area hotels and motels.
Douglas Dunn, general manager of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Portland, said 45 to 50 people checked in as a result of the storm.
"A lot come in thinking they'll spend one night, but today it seems every person who asked to stay one night has extended a second night," he said.
Adam Cyr, manager of the Fairfield Inn in Scarborough, said he sold out all available rooms Monday night and all 120 rooms Tuesday. "We're running at full tilt," he said.
The University of Southern Maine campuses in Gorham, Portland and Lewiston/Auburn held classes Tuesday while closing several buildings that were without power.
WMPG, the community radio station on the Portland campus, remained off the air because of power outages.
As many as 160 soldiers from the Maine National Guard assisted in storm relief. Most were in the Westbrook and Boothbay areas, removing debris, running traffic control points and getting supplies to shelters, said Maj. Michael Backus, a spokesman for the guard.
At the intersection of Route 302 and East Bridge Street in Westbrook, which was closed and under water for most of Monday and Tuesday, water came within a few inches of flooding a Portland Water District pump station.
"It was a close call," said district employee Thomas Hume. "We've been ahead of it the whole way, but just barely."
Water from the Presumpscot River did rise high enough to seep into the facility's doorways, cascading down four flights of metal stairs. It soaked blueprints, logbooks and a few pieces of equipment but did not shut down the operation, which pumps sewage to a nearby treatment plant.
The East Bridge Street pump station has been flooded only four times since it was built in the late 1970s, Hume said. The last time was Oct. 21, 1996, when 18 inches of rain fell on Westbrook.
On Tuesday, Hume pointed to a black line drawn on the cement wall, about 7 feet up from the pump station floor.
"That was the big one for us," Hume said. "It took about three days for the water to go down before we could get in here."
Once Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency officials felt safety issues were under control, they began assessing the scope and cost of damages, said agency director George Flaherty.
"The thing went 'boom' and now you're going to count damage," he said. "It will be days before we get a good handle on it."
Flaherty said that public works crews are reporting much more serious damage than what was seen in other big storms in the past. High winds and the already-saturated ground contributed to the toll, he said.
In York County, emergency management officials were watching bridges and roads near rivers, hoping that the waters would recede with causing further damage.
High water flowing out of Lake Arrowhead on the Limerick/Waterboro town lines threatened the Ledgemere Dam on Tuesday. Emergency crews stacked sandbags around the dam as the water level rose, stopping just short of the top of the dam.
Maine wardens and the Maine Marine Patrol evacuated 23 people from homes Tuesday, including many in Limington on the Little Ossippee River, said Mark Latti, spokesman for the warden service.
"There was worry that the dam was going to overflow or break and so people below the dam on the Chadbourne Ridge Road were being evacuated," Latti said.
Eleven people whom wardens tried to coax from their homes refused to leave, Latti said.
The situation was resolved without any serious damage, said Rick Davis of the York County Emergency Management Agency.
"We got the boards removed and the dam is emptying itself," Davis said. "There was some flooding downstream."
The state had 14 game wardens working in York County and another 25 on standby as reports of severe damage in Lincoln County began to pour in, Latti said.
Coastal towns also reported severe damage, said Dick Bohacker of York County Emergency Management Agency. Flooded roads along the coast were closed in York, Wells, Kennebunk and Saco, he said.
Roads that had been closed Monday, including Route 1 in Wells, were starting to open up by late Tuesday morning.
"We've got a few things on the plus side," Bohacker said. "If things start to calm down today, we will start doing our assessment of public and private damage."
State officials have no estimate yet on storm-related damage.
It takes about $1.5 million in infrastructure damage to trigger federal funding, according to Robert P. McAleer, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency. There is no cap on the federal funding, but there is a requirement for a 15 percent state share.
"We've already started that ball rolling," McAleer said.
-- Staff writers Kelley Bouchard, Justin Ellis, David Hench, Ann Kim and Trevor Maxwell contributed to this report.
Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at:
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