Efforts to restore power in Maine and New Hampshire stretched into another day on Saturday as over 100,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity following a recent storm that unleashed powerful winds and heavy snow.
Maine’s primary electric utility cautioned that some customers might have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to have their service restored, despite the tireless work of 1,125 line crews and 400 tree-cutting crews.
Tens of thousands still without power (Credits: BBC)
The majority of the power outages, totaling over 150,000 at the onset of Saturday, were concentrated in southern Maine, while New Hampshire grappled with more than 10,000 properties still in the dark.
Jonathan Breed, a spokesperson for Central Maine Power, revealed that over 5,000 damage reports required attention during the storm, with over 300 utility poles broken due to the severe weather conditions.
Maine, known as the nation’s most heavily forested state, has faced a challenging year of harsh winter and spring weather. The recent storm added to the woes, leaving over 300,000 homes and businesses without power. Breed noted that such storms have become more frequent and intense over the past decade.
Hundreds of thousands still lack power after northeast storm (Credits: AP News)
“We are confronted with these stronger, more frequent storms across the board,” Breed remarked on Saturday. The storm unleashed heavy rains and high winds across much of the Northeast, with gusts exceeding 60 mph in parts of New England.
Northern New England bore the brunt of the snowfall, with reports of over a foot in many areas. In total, nearly 700,000 customers in New England experienced power outages, marking the largest April nor’easter since 2020.
