Central Maine Power Co., a subsidiary of Avangrid Inc., a diversified energy and utility company, has been monitoring weather forecasts and is prepared for a winter storm forecast to bring heavy snow and gusty winds to Maine on Wednesday, March 7 and Thursday, March 8.
Central Maine Power’s storm-readiness teams have been holding planning meetings, and the company is prepositioning personnel and equipment to ensure that adequate resources are in place to restore power outages that might occur as a result of the storm. The company is coordinating its preparations with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and county emergency management personnel.
Current forecasts call for snow to arrive Wednesday afternoon and continue into Thursday, with accumulations of more than a foot in some areas. The snow could coat tree limbs, bringing them down onto power lines and causing outages. Wind gusts may also cause tree limbs from outside the utility’s trim zone to come into contact with lines.
CMP offers customers the following tips to prepare for the storm and to stay safe and comfortable if power outages do occur:
Before a storm strikes:
• Enroll in the free CMP Alerts service, which provides the latest information about power outages by text message, email, or voice message.
• Keep battery-operated flashlights and radios on hand, along with supplies of drinking water and nonperishable foods.
• Make sure that smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices are fully charged.
• Fill one’s car’s fuel tank.
For customers with generators:
• Hire a licensed electrician to install permanent generators and transfer switches.
• Properly ground all portable generators.
• Carefully read and observe all instructions in one’s generator’s operating manual.
• Never run a generator indoors, or even in an open garage.
• If a carbon monoxide detector goes off, get out of the building immediately and call 911.
• Do not store fuel indoors or try to refuel a generator while it is running.
• Refer to CMP’s web page on generator safety: cmpco.com/usageandsafety/electricalsafety/generatorsafety/default.html.
•Go to cmpco.com/outages/storm_safety.html for additional storm safety information.
Additional information on storm safety and restoration, including a town-by-town listing of outages in the CMP service area with an area map, can be found at cmpco.com.
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