Thunderstorms knock out power to more than 20,000 York County electric customers - Press Herald

Thunderstorms knock out power to more than 20,000 York County electric customers

A cluster of thunderstorms brought high winds and rain to southern Maine on Friday, knocking out power to more than 20,000 electric customers in York County.

Around 7 p.m., 20,425 Central Maine Power customers were without electricity in York County. A total of 29,446 were without power statewide, including 5,488 in Cumberland County and 2,258 in Androscoggin County.

Those numbers had fallen to 9,250 outages across CMP’s coverage area by 10 p.m., including 6,337 in York County and 1,619 in Cumberland County, according to an online list of outages. CMP, the state’s largest electric utility, has about 670,700 customers in southern and central Maine.

CMP crews were deployed to restore electricity and the company was estimating about a two-hour wait time, said CMP spokesperson Jon Breed. He said restoration times could vary based on location and extent of damage.

Our crews are responding to outages after a strong storm swept through Maine this evening.

We will restore power as quickly and as safely as possible.

Remember, no line is safe to touch! You can report an outage in your area by calling, going online, or through our app.
pic.twitter.com/HJBaQtelVV

— Central Maine Power (@cmpco)
September 8, 2023

York County was hit by the thunderstorms around 4 p.m. as they moved into the state from New Hampshire, National Weather Service meteorologist Derek Schroeter said. They headed into Cumberland County but weakened toward the northern end of the county.

Schroeter said the storms spawned winds up to 60 to 70 mph in some places, and the weather service in Gray had received numerous reports of downed trees.

Much of the damage to power lines was from downed trees, Breed said. “The trees are under stress because of the incredibly wet summer we’ve had, so this storm had a particular impact on a lot of tree growth,” he said.

The York County Emergency Management Agency said in a tweet Friday night that the weather had caused a significant number of electric outages, downed trees and downed electrical wires. The agency reminded people to assume all power lines are live, never touch power lines or anything in contact with them and avoid driving over downed power lines.

This pm’s thunderstorm caused a significant # of power outages in York County. Utilities crews are currently out responding, but there are still over 20,000 outages & a # of downed trees & lines. Use caution as crews work through the damages.
#poweroutage #safety #yorkcountyema pic.twitter.com/AQgHNGILJT

— York County EMA (@YorkCountyEMA)
September 8, 2023

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