Most Maine homes were expected to have electrical service restored by press time, but to say this latest storm which brought near hurricane level winds was a horror show would be putting it mildly. Some folks not only lost power, they were trapped on their property, unable to go anywhere due to downed trees and dangerous lines. It apparently looked like a war zone on many roads across the state with limb after limb, tree after tree, blocking travel lanes, even Route One.  At our home in East Boothbay, the power went out about 6 a.m.  Monday and was quickly restored before mid-afternoon, with our generator serving us during the interim.TV, the internet and telephone service weren’t restored until Sunday afternoon.

The only break we got, if you can call it that, was that temperatures remained relatively mild across the state during the outages, a plus for those without generators or other means of obtaining heat. Just like the ice storm of 1998, this latest prolonged power outage proved the wisdom of having a generator of some type. We’re sure some folks had to throw away food that spoiled due to lack of refrigeration. Homes with wells found themselves not only with no power, but also with no water. Not being able to communicate with one another by phone is frustrating, but some households had at least one family member with a cellphone.  If they didn’t, this probably prompted them to get one, at least for emergencies. 

Both businesses and private homes found the lack of internet service both an inconvenience and an annoyance. It showed all of us how much we depend upon it every day. As for those with cable TV service, a day without television seems like an eternity. At a time when there was more happening here in Maine, not being able to listen to the daily news was a big disappointment. How many of the original 400,000 homes still didn’t have power? Which roads were still blocked? How many crews were working on restoring power? What was happening in our own community? We all wanted to know.

Gasoline for a vehicle or for a generator was in short supply early in the week, with many service stations not having generators to operate their pumps. We overheard one driver at Irving who had just come from out of state tell the clerks that station after station where he stopped couldn’t furnish him with gas, and that finally one that had generator service agreed to let him have a few gallons, but that was all. He was here in Boothbay Harbor filling up his tank.  

Schools were forced to cancel in much of the state. Apparently buses have to be able to access the homes of a large percentage of students before classes can be held. Here in the Boothbay region, it took four days; schools reopened Friday. We were hoping the state would rule that students didn’t have to make up all of the lost days due to the storm but as we understand it, that won’t happen. We’ll all have to hope we don’t use a lot of snow days between now and spring which will necessitate an extended school year in June.       

Restaurants and take-out stores stayed busy all week feeding folks tired of their choices at home. At the country club, volunteer crews gathered to make lunches which were delivered to 500 homes without power, and Oceanside on Atlantic Avenue opened its doors to those needing a place to stay. The laundromat gave discounts to area folks without power, and customers got a surprise when a Good Samaritan was on hand to offer them hot soup. Throughout the entire state, friends and neighbors helped one another, just as they always do. Hopefully in the coming days, we’ll learn more about all the acts of kindness which made the power outage somehow easier to endure.

It’s been years since the state experienced power outages of this magnitude, with hundreds and hundreds of trees needing to be removed  and new poles put in place before lines could be restored.  Last week reminded us all how much we depend upon our power sources for so many of our daily needs and should help us appreciate even more the long hours our power company crews put in to  keep us healthy and happy.