by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A wind storm that hit early Monday morning knocked out power to thousands of Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative (EMEC) customers, including 100 percent of their Washington County customers and some customers in Aroostook County. 

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning from 8 p.m. Sunday, April 30, to 10 a.m. on Monday, May 1, anticipating gusts up to 50 m.p.h. Along the coast.

EMEC said a power outage on the Canadian side of the border cut power to EMEC’s main transmission line. “The NB Power outage affects about 80% of EMEC’s delivery network,” wrote EMEC. “NB Power is trying to restore power one area at a time, but we do not know how soon that will lead to restoring power at the border with Maine.”

As of 5 p.m., NB Power estimated restoration on the Canadian outages to occur around midnight. 

About 170 Versant power customers in Washington County also lost power, with more than half of them restored a few hours later. Versant reported much larger outages in Hancock County, with 3,705 meters impacted. “Due to the extent of the damage in Hancock County, restoration is expected to continue into tomorrow in that area,” read a release from Versant.