Holiday winter storm causes Maine power outages, additional closures
Jan. 17—A winter storm on Martin Luther King Jr. Day has caused power outages across Maine, some flooding along the coast and additional closures on Monday.
Central Maine Power Co. reported 9,189 of 661,357 customers were without electricity at noon Monday, mostly in York, Cumberland and Lincoln counties. Versant Power was reporting 341 of 165,066 customers without electricity in eastern and northern Maine.
The National Weather Service in Gray predicted heavy snowfall inland — as much as 3 inches per hour at times — with precipitation turning to rain along the coast. Snow accumulations through the afternoon could reach 5 to 10 inches in some areas.
Damaging winds that were expected to cause power outages had begun to weaken by noon. Still, a high-wind warning remained in effect along the coast, with gusts as high as 45 mph, as well as a winter storm warning across northern Maine.
Noontime temperatures ranged from 45 degrees along the coast coast to 15 degrees in the crown of Maine.
