Number Of Emera Maine Customers Without Power Drops Below 9,000

Less than 9,000 Emera Maine customers remained without power Friday afternoon, down from a peak of 90,000 outages Monday.

The outages occurred during a powerful windstorm that brought down trees and limbs, damaging utility poles and power lines. It caused nearly half a million people throughout the state to lose electricity.

In an update released late Friday afternoon, the company said it expected to restore power to nearly all of its customers by the end of day on Saturday.

The company said restoration to remote locations, seasonal camps and places with damage to private lines may not come until next week.

Additional crews from as far away as Florida are assisting Emera Maine after helping other New England utilities restore service interrupted by the windstorm.

Wind gusts during the storm exceeded 65 mph in Penobscot and Hancock Counties. In Cumberland County, wind speeds reached at least 69 mph.

Emera Maine said in a Tuesday news release that “This storm caused the most outages we have seen since the 1998 ice storm.”

A list of areas where crews are currently working is available via the company's live outage map on its website.