As the cleanup continues from Hurricane Lee on Sunday, fewer power outages reported
Sep. 17—As the cleanup continued from Hurricane Lee, there were still customers without power on early Sunday.
Meanwhile, safety officials caution that despite no wind and blue skies on Sunday, there could be some downed trees on the roads and a strong current along the coast.
Statewide there were less than 25,000 electricity customers without power as of 9:10 a.m. Sunday, according to Central Maine Power's outage list. During Saturday's height of the storm, there were 61,000 outages.
The county with the most outages Sunday were Somerset, 6,215; Lincoln, 5,032; and Knox, 3,966.
In southern Maine, outages numbered 2,014 in York County and 484 in Cumberland County.
Versant Power, which provides electricity to eastern and northern areas, reported there were 14,344 customers impacted by outages on Sunday morning, down from when more than 36,000 customers were in the dark.
The eastern and northern parts of the state suffered heavy rain and higher winds as it was closer to the eye of the storm, which made landfall Saturday in the Nova Scotia, Canada, region.
One man died Saturday in Searsport when his vehicle was struck by a falling tree. The 51-year-old man's identity was not released on Sunday and will not be until Monday, according to the Waldo County Sheriff's.
Through much of Maine's Down East area, where the storm had the most force, trees were falling in a number of places because of high wind and heavy summer rain, which weakened tree roots.
In Aroostook County, a driver from Ohio and his passengers narrowly escaped serious injury Saturday when a tree slammed through the front windshield of the van he was driving.
The Maine State Police reported that John Yoder, 23, was driving a 2017 Ford Transit van south on Route 11 in Moro Plantation when he saw a large tree crashing into the road.
Yoder attempted to stop, but he was unable to avoid the tree. The top of the tree smashed through the front windshield, barely missing Yoder and his passenger. The top of the tree broke off inside the van. Yoder sustained only minor cuts, and his five other passengers in the van were not injured.
The Maine State Police are reminding motorists on Sunday to stay vigilant as they drive for the possibility of more falling trees and debris on the roads.
This story will be updated.