By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

The first substantial snowstorm of this winter brought at least a half-foot of condensed wet snow to the region.  

It also brought out the best in some residents who checked in on their neighbors since hundreds of households were without power for two to three days.

The heavy wet snow that fell Saturday night through Sunday snapped power lines and toppled trees onto lines. Even utility poles fell victim to the storm. 

In Harrison on Tuesday, the morning started with 800 households without electricity. By the afternoon, that had dropped to 241. By the time the sun set, that had dropped to 29.

Harrison Town Clerk Melissa St. John referred to residents as self-reliant.

“People take care of themselves, and they take a care of their neighbors,” St. John said. 

“We did open up the warming shelter,” she said, adding. “We put the word out. We called the TV channels. We put it on the town’s website. We let the local stores know.” 

She said that people took advantage of it, with more people using it on Tuesday than were there on Monday. 

“We’ve had a warming shelter open at the community room [inside the Harrison Fire Station] yesterday and today,” St. John said on Tuesday. “They can take a hot shower, charge their phones, get a cup of coffee and have a place to go to get out of the cold because it’s been brutal.”

The snowstorm was followed by three days of daytime-high temperatures right at freezing or colder, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

St. John doubts the warming place will be needed for the remainder of the week. 

“Literally, 45 minutes ago, a big chunk of the town just came back on,” she said on Tuesday night.  

Some parts of town got it worse than others.

“What we’ve heard from Central Maine Power is that Summit Hill is hit pretty hard,” St. John said.  “Down along the Bolsters Mills Road on the Otisfield side, they were replacing poles. That affects the power into Harrison as well.” 

On Wednesday morning, the power was out at residences on Scribners Mills Road, Hamlin Road, Hydah Way, Maple Ridge Road and Silver Birch Road, according to the CMP website.  

Seeing the ice-coated tree branches this weekend triggered memories from more than 20 years ago, St. John said. 

“For those of us who lived through the Ice Storm of ’98, it was a little bit of PTSD,” she said.

On Tuesday morning, the towns of Naples and Casco and Bridgton each had more than 300 households without power. By the end of the day, CMP crews had reduced those numbers to 48 in Naples and 4 household in Casco. 

However, 205 CMP customers living in Bridgton were still without power on Wednesday morning. It was estimated that power would be restored by the late afternoon. 

According to the National Weather Service, South Bridgton got 7.5 inches of snow and ice. That was on top of 1.62 inches of rain over the weekend. Meanwhile, Casco had 6 inches of snow and ice.

In Bridgton, the town’s community center was open, but it wasn’t where people experiencing power outageswent, according to Director Carmen Lone. 

“The Bridgton Community Center is always a warming place. We are considered a warming center in all situations,” Lone said. “We are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. During COVID, we can accommodate people here. People have to wear masks and families have to stay in pods. I recommend people call first.”

The warming center was advertised on public Facebook and with the town office and the recreation department. 

“I had one couple come in from Fosterville Road. They had a wood stove so their home was warm. They were looking for help calling CMP, and we helped them with that,” she said. 

Lone had her own theory why out of 200 households without power, only one couple came to the center. 

“We are hard-core Mainiacs we know these situations are going to happen,” Lone said. 

“On the other hand, we know there are elderlyout there and we should check on them. Seniors tend to be isolated. We have a list of senior and we reach out to them on a weekly basis,” she said.  

“I would encourage neighbors to stay in touch with their neighbors and friends. That is the way we tend to find people who fall through the cracks,” Lone said. 

In Casco, the Parks and Recreation Director Beth Latsey reached out to senior citizens to check on them, according to Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish. 

“We contacted Beth who contacted the elderly in the community. Most people either went to other people’s homes or had generators,” he said. 

Latsey said she referred to her list of people who attended the senior lunches.

“I reached out to the ones in Casco who live alone. Everyone seemed to be okay. One woman didn’t answer her phone. I went to her house. She was fine. She stayed with her children the night before, and returned home when the power went back on. A couple people had gone to kids’ houses. A couple of people, surprisingly, had generators,” Latsey said.  

During the storm’s aftermath and as part of the decision-making process, Gerrish kept in contact with Casco Fire Chief Brian Cole. 

Unfortunately, with COVID-19 restrictions and a small staff, the Casco Community Center could not be opened as a warming place, Gerrish said. 

“It was a tough choice whether to open it or not,” he said. 

“We kept in touch with Central Maine Power.  They hoped to have power on for most people by Monday night, and I see still about 300 homes are without power today,” he said on Tuesday morning.

By the end of the work-day, CMP crews had restored power to all but three households in Casco.

Casco Board of Selectmen Chairman Thomas Peaslee expressed some frustration that the town couldn’t offer more to residents.

“When there is an emergency in town, we should at least know where to refer people when people call us. I think in Maine, we don’t do enough for our elderly. I think it is important during an emergency like this to know what resources are available,” Peaslee said. 

He regretted that his town wasn’t able to offer a day-time place for residents without power. 

“One of the reasons it’s not easy in a small town to open a warming center is: We don’t have a lot of employees in the town to meet those CDC guidelines. You need personnel to manage that facility and to clean up. Do we let people in and not be supervised? How do you meet the CDC requirements,” he said, adding that these are things the selectmen will discuss in the future. 

After the snow stopped and Peaslee finished shoveling, he went to check on people in the neighborhood. Typically, some of these homes are used solely during the summer. But, this winter, people were living there. 

“I asked if they were okay. They said, ‘We aren’t used to being this cold,’” Peaslee said. “One neighbor had to go to a motel because it was too cold to stay there.”