Source: Bangor Daily News, MaineDec.儲存 23--Hampered by another bout of rain and freezing rain, utility workers around the state scrambled Monday to try to keep up with restoring power to thousands of people primarily along the coast.By early afternoon, crews were losing ground as the number of customers without power shot up to more than 65,000 in Bangor Hydro Electric and Central Maine Power coverage areas.Waldo, Washington, Hancock and Kennebec counties appeared to be the hardest hit, with more than 10,000 customers left in the dark in Hancock County alone."Trees are coming down unexpectedly," Chief Mike McFadden of the Belfast Police Department said Monday, urging residents to stay home and off the roads. "Heed the weather forecast. The ice is extremely dangerous."There was no immediate relief in sight for the region until evening, according to the National Weather Service, which issued an ice storm warning effective through 6 p.m. Monday. Another wave or precipitation was bringing more freezing rain, noted Paul Fitzsimmons, a meteorologist with the service in Caribou."It's not quite over yet," said Fitzsimmons. However, the precipitation was expected to end Monday evening.As fast as utility crews have been trying to restore power, Bangor Hydro was experiencing new, additional outages, spokeswoman Susan Faloon said late Monday morning."With the continued weather issues, they're making progress, (but) they continue to get new outages," she said. "We'll probably continue to see a lot of that today."The utility has summoned additional workers from Maine Public Service, the electric utility that serves Aroostook County. Bangor Hydro also has staffed its customer service center with additional personnel to handle the burgeoning number of calls from people without power."We're doing everything we can to get power on," said Faloon. "Two days before Christmas, we know people want their power." Yet, some customers likely would be without power overnight, she said.Despite the adversity, people in the region appeared to be weathering the ice storm with equanimity. Emergency management officials for Hancock a迷你倉d Washington reported no pressing requests to set up emergency shelters or warming stations.A few municipal town managers had contacted him about a few individuals, such as elderly people or those with medical conditions, said Mike Hinerman, director of emergency management for Washington County. However, those communities have dealt with the challenges on their own, he said. "So far they all say it's winter, and they're handling it," said Hinerman."We continue to assess the need" for emergency shelter, said Andrew Sankey, director of emergency management for Hancock."One of the barometers we use is the number of people requesting shelter information," said Sankey. "I don't want to say there haven't been any," but the number has been small, he said."People seem to have heeded the warnings to stay home, stay put, and stay safe," said Sankey, who noted that the willingness of area residents to hunker down during the storm helps avoid putting first responders and emergency services personnel at risk.Chris Loughlin, town manager of Machias, which has been hit hard by accumulating ice, estimated that about 25-30 percent of the town's households were without power. They seem to be taking it in stride, however, by taking temporary shelter with friends or family, noted Loughlin."This is just a normal winter," he said Monday morning.Besides falling power lines, officials in both counties and Ellsworth indicated the region was grappling with falling limbs and trees weighed down by ice.The region most affected by Monday's precipitation was the area south of a line stretching from Bangor to Princeton, said Fitzsimmons -- the same region that bore the brunt of the ice storm over the weekend. "Unfortunately a lot of the areas that were impacted yesterday are going to be impacted today," he said. Areas closest to the coast will get some slight relief from warmer temperatures, he added.BDN writer Ryan McLaughlin contributed to this report.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at .bangordailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉
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