Central Maine Power’s Latest Update on Power Restoration

We all know how frustrating it is to be without power. It's one of those things that you don't even think about until you don't have it. After Monday's strong winds and rain, about 400,000 homes were without power in Maine.

On Tuesday, the work to restore power was able to go into full swing with the weather cooperating. At mid-afternoon, outages were down to 287,000, and that's all thanks to the hard work of the linemen and tree crews that have been working through the night as much as they can. They will continue to work until power is restored for everyone.

CMP gave an update on the situation at 11 a.m. on Tuesday:

Yesterday’s damaging rain and windstorm took down trees, wires and poles across the state, compounded by flooded streams and rivers, which washed out bridges and roads.  We have close to 2,000 people, including  1,400 line and tree workers across our service area today to restore power, supported by arborists, mechanics, damage assessors and other personnel from our sister companies in NY and CT. An additional 1,000 line and tree workers will be arriving throughout the day.

We will work around the clock until power is restored to all customers.

Our priority in any storm is to ensure public safety, which means working with our Emergency Management Association partners and MEMA to de-energize downed wires and help clear blocked roads for emergency vehicles.  We also focus on critical facilities like hospitals and water/sewer treatment facilities.

Do not attempt to remove trees and branches from power lines and remember that no line is safe to touch, ever. Please stay clear and be safe. We will get there.

The damage is widespread, and we expect restoration efforts to take into the weekend for the hardest hit areas.

There's a lot of work to be done, and when you take a look at some of the photos that CMP has posted to their Facebook page, you can see that daunting task ahead of them.

I've seen this graphic circulating around social media that was originally created for National Lineman Appreciation Day (which falls on April 18), but its use for our CMP and Versant linemen seems appropriate right now.

These men and women work tirelessly after storms like these to get the power back on for everyone as quickly as they can. As soon as one line is fixed, there's no wasting time, as it's off to the next. Thank you to all the line and tree crews who continue to work as quickly and safely as they can to get our power back.

And remember: