As of 11 a.m. on Aug. 29, “just about every road” in Somerville was closed due to downed power lines, said Somerville Fire Chief Mike Dostie.
The town is without power, as they have been since Sunday morning, and earlier today the town phone service, Dostie said.
“We’ve cleared everything we can, and we’re waiting for [Central Maine Power] to clear the downed lines,” Dostie said.
Dostie emphasized that CMP has worked closely with the town, but said they have not provided any timeline for restoring power and opening roads.
“Right now, our crews working to check on all the elderly residents that might not have cell phones,” Dostie said.
Many of those elderly residents rely on electrically powered oxygen systems, and fire crews are working to make sure they get the care and supplies they need.
Emergency crews have “cleared path out of town through Washington” from Rt. 17 to Rt. 206, but that is the only way in or out for the time being, Dostie said.
Somerville, along with the other northern Lincoln County towns of Jefferson and Whitefield, appear to have been the hardest hit in Lincoln County.
“It seems like we really got it,” Dostie said. “Things started to get rough Sunday morning, and they just got worse from there.”
Dostie hopes all residents will respect emergency barriers, and reminds residents that all road closures at this time are due to downed power lines. Dostie warns residents that downed lines are dangerous, and should not be approached under any circumstances.
“Just about the whole town is out,” said CMP spokesperson Gail Rice. “Somerville is pretty dark right about now. Westport (Island) is pretty much all out. About 90 percent of Dresden is out and about 60 percent of Jefferson is out. These places are all a little remote so some of these customers may be out for several days.”
Rice said CMP is working to restore power to the approximately 173,000 customers who are still without as of noon Aug. 29.
Currently CMP is focusing its efforts on restoring service to core areas before moving to outlying areas. Rice compared the process to plowing snow describing the process of clearing main roads first in order to get to the side roads.
Cumberland, York and Kennebec Counties were especially hard hit, Rice said, adding damage was widespread. “It’s everywhere really,” she said.
