The power is out in at least 40 percent of Waldoboro, and could be down for as long as three days, said Waldoboro Emergency Management Director Kyle Santheson at noon on Feb. 26.
“We’re a mess over here,” Santheson said. “The trees were selective about hitting big feeder lines.”
The power went out at around 7 p.m. Feb. 25 and it is unclear when crews will be able to restore it, Santheson said. By his count, there are more than 50 roads without power in Waldoboro.
“We’re still in the process of making everything safe and clearing the roads,” Santheson said. “There are no major emergencies we’re dealing with, just the inconvenience of closed roads and power outages.”
Waldoboro is working with Lincoln County Emergency Management to establish locations for possible shelters, but during previous widespread outages like this one there wasn’t much need, Santheson said.
There is a warming shelter at the Waldoboro Fire Station on Route 1 in Waldoboro that will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. “until the need diminishes,” Santheson said.
An overnight shelter is planned at the Great Salt Bay Community School on Bus Rt. 1, Main Street in Damariscotta, Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Tim Pellerin said. However, the school still doesn’t have power.
“We’re trying to get CMP down there to get the power on, and if we do, we’ll open the shelter there,” Pellerin said. “If not, we’ll go to our backup location.”
The location of the overnight shelter will be updated when the location can be confirmed.
“Thankfully, it’s not bitterly cold,” Santheson said, “and a lot of people in Maine are pretty self reliant.”