1: Local Story

BELFAST (Nov 26): A tropical storm with gusty winds and heavy rain toppled trees and knocked out power Tuesday night across Waldo County.

The extent of the damage was still unknown Wednesday morning, though a recorded message at Central Maine Power said outages had been reported in Belfast, Islesboro, Waldo, Brooks, Searsport and Swanville.

Diana Story at the Belfast Police Department said a large pine tree in her Monroe driveway was uprooted and fell away from five vehicles that were parked there. Parts of the Back Brooks Road were flooded Wednesday morning when she drove to Belfast for work, she said.

Winds blew at a reported 70 miles per hour at Belfast harbor, though most boats had been stored for the winter and minor damage was evident.

Malcolm Gater holds up a piling carved by Ron Cowan. The piling stood in the harbor until Tuesday night when it was blown ashore. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)

A metal gangway shifted off the wharf by high winds and water in Belfast Harbor (Photo by Ethan Andrews)

A shed near the Belfast Boathouse narrowly escaped damage from a falling tree. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)

In Searsport, Police Chief Dick LaHaye said the portion of the Mt. Ephraim Road near the Loop Road was closed due to a downed tree and power lines in the roadway.

Downed trees were also reported on the Mortland and Savery roads, as well as Black Road North.

Emergency crews were restoring power and cutting fallen trees from roadways, and Waldo County Emergency Management Agency Director Dale Rowley said all 26 communities in the county had experienced power outages. The least affected area of the county, he said, was between Winterport and Stockton Springs. There was not a lot of damage, Rowley added, but many trees and limbs were down, as were roadside power lines.

As of 12:55 p.m. Wednesday, Rowley said most roads were cleared of debris. "As far as I know I think all the roads are back open again," he said.

One lane of the Prairie Road in Unity was still blocked off due to flooding, but Rowley said flooding is common on that road. "Our communication center radios were down for a short time, too, but that was rectified fairly quickly," Rowley said.

Fire crews from each town were out all night assisting with debris removal, and many local EMA directors had set up emergency operation center. At about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Rowley said, Gov. John E. Baldacci declared the situation an emergency. That allowed power crews to work overtime to rectify the outages, Rowley said, and to garner assistance from out-of-state power companies.

CMP spokesperson Gail Rice said that as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, there were 17,200 customers without power in the company’s Rockland district. The district includes Waldo and Knox counties. That figure is down from the peak number of outages early Wednesday morning, which Rice said reached 18,500.

“That was our hardest hit area from the storm,” said Rice.

Rice said out-of-state crews have come in to assist CMP workers in restoring service, but it is likely that some remote customers will be without power through Thursday morning.

“The rain saturated the ground to the point that entire trees were uprooted, bringing down a lot of power lines and causing a lot of damage,” Rice said.