Nearly 50,000 power outages were reported on Saturday morning, likely due to weather conditions and car crashes across the state.
As of 8 a.m., around 48,000 Central Maine Power customers were without power, according to the utility’s outage map. At least 21,000 people in Oxford County were without power, while around 12,000 York County residents didn’t have power on Friday morning.
Nearly 50 car crashes were reported across the state on Friday night, with the majority occurring on interstate highways and the Maine Turnpike, according to the Maine State Police.
In Casco, a car flipped when it went off the road on Route 302 while trying to stop going down a hill, according to CBS 13. No one was seriously injured, but weather conditions created slick conditions and likely contributed to the crash.
On Quaker Ridge Road near Glen Drive, a utility pole was knocked down after a single-vehicle crash, according to authorities. No injuries were reported. A utility pole was also downed on Route 197 in Wales, closing the road for maintenance. A rollover crash involving a tractor trailer has also closed the Sawyer Road in Greene, according to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office.
As of 8:30 a.m., Versant Power was reporting a handful of outages throughout the Bangor region and Hancock County, although it was not clear whether those outages were weather-related..
Storm crews have been deployed across much of Maine, as snowfall is expected to continue over most of the weekend.
Southern and western Maine are expected to bear the brunt of the storm system moving through this weekend, with the western mountain regions projected to see up to a foot and a half of snowfall by Monday. Inland southern and central Maine are projected to see up to a foot of snowfall over the weekend, while the forecast predicts a few inches of snow in the most coastal regions, according to the Gray office of the National Weather Service.
As of 9:30 p.m., Gorham had received about 1.6 inches of snowfall, while Porter in Oxford County reported 9 inches of snowfall, according to the Gray NWS station. Sanford reported 4.5 inches of snowfall at that time.
Central and northern Maine can expect heavy snowfall throughout the weekend, with up to a foot and a half of snowfall predicted in the immediate Katahdin region. The Caribou office of the NWS expects up to a foot of snowfall in northern Penobscot county and Aroostook County.
Coastal Down East Maine might escape the worst of the storm, with up to four inches of snow predicted to hit Machias and Eastport. But higher snowfall amounts are expected to spread inland throughout the weeknd, according to Caribou NWS forecasters.
Maine’s major interstate systems will likely be impacted by ongoing snowfall over the weekend, and travelers are cautioned to stay alert to road conditions while driving.
