Central Main Power crews are responding to widespread tree damage across its service area brought on by Thursday’s major snowstorm. Snow loading on trees from more than a foot of heavy, wet snow and strong winds are the primary causes of damage. CMP has received over 1,200 calls from local emergency management agencies and has already restored power to nearly 35,000 customers so far. About 314,000 customers remain without power as the long-duration Nor’easter continues to impact Maine.
CMP is also in the process of deploying critical equipment and materials to areas including Fryeburg, Wiscasset, and Bucksport to support the company’s eleven regional service centers. The company will also have additional customer service representatives standing by to assist customers starting on Wednesday.
“The damage from these fallen trees is significant and our arborists have observed that this is some of the worst snow loading on trees they have seen in more than a decade,” said Jon Breed, spokesperson for Central Maine Power. “Hundreds of additional line and tree crews are enroute to Maine to support the more than 450 external line crews and 250 tree crews already deployed in the field. We are also coordinating the use of cranes to remove large hazard trees in some areas.”
Preparations leading up to today’s storm have allowed CMP crews to focus on making downed lines safe, clearing fallen trees from roads, and responding to storm impacts to its transmission lines and substations, which can impact large groups of customers.
Customers can report outages quickly and easily, and track restoration times, using the CMP mobile app.
