By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

As trick or treaters walked down Bacon Street Tuesday night, there was an eerie feeling when they peered toward Kennard Street.

A few candles flickered inside some homes, but the street and surrounding yards were jet black.

With good reason.

Kennard Street was one of several pocket areas intown Bridgton where electrical service remained down following Sunday’s tropical storm.

Gusting wind into the 70 mph range along with torrential rain toppled trees, which downed power lines across the Lake Region area.

Central Maine Power, along with utility help from other states, continue to reduce the number of outages, but it appears full power restoration won’t likely happen until Saturday.

The outage and clean-up work closed local schools, and has kept Public Works departments quite busy.

Stephen Merkle of Naples Public Works reported that Fire & Rescue personnel along with Public Works spent all of Monday responding to calls of downed trees and power lines.

“On town roads that only involved trees and no wires, the two departments got the trees cut and removed out of the roadways. There are many roads that are still closed due to the fact that there were power lines involved,” Merkle said. “These roads have been coned off and closed.”

At 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, a CMP crew arrived to “make lines safe,” which will allow town workers to remove trees and debris, Merkle said Tuesday night.

Roads worked on as of Tuesday were: Lake House, Gore, River, Rabbit Run, Trickey Pond, Stage, Margaret Street, Jackson Cove and State Park.

“The process will be done in steps and will take a couple of days to get all town roads passable,” he added. “A huge thanks goes to Naples Fire and Rescue for all they have done to ensure the public’s safety.”

In Casco, Town Manager David Morton reported that most of the town remained without power as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“Several roads have obstructions and are hampered with downed utility lines, many of which are intertwined with trees,” Morton said. “Clearing away debris is slow due to the need to have utility lines removed prior to removal of trees. The Casco Fire Department has been doing a fantastic job in response to calls for downed utility lines, which have obstructed roads. Many roads are still not passable for school buses.”

Morton added that CMP has crews working in the area and has “a great deal of work ahead” addressing many broken and downed utility poles and lines.

SAD 61 was back in session Wednesday, other than Sebago Elementary, which remained without power.

In Harrison, CMP made significant progress late Tuesday into early Wednesday. Initially, CMP reported that 897 out of 1,996 customers were without power. The figure dipped to 846 by 7:53 p.m. Tuesday, and dropped to 200 by 1:26 a.m. on Wednesday.

Town Manager Bud Finch said storm damage was “minimal.”

There were no road washouts, but some areas will need work on shoulders and drainage issues.

“I want to extend my appreciation to the crews in Public Safety and Fire & Rescue for the great job they did to get us back at least to the level we can do on our own,” Finch said.

The manager noted that the heavy rain brought Carsley Brook to “almost flood stage.

“Crystal Lake, which fills quicker than most after storms as the water flows from surrounding hills, has docks underwater,” Finch said.

In Sebago, the Town Hall is open to residents for showers from 6 to 8 p.m. until power is restored, Allen Crabtree reported Wednesday.

“Power still out over most of Sebago, but Bridgton Road 107 is now open,” Crabtree said. “A big pine at Moose Cove Road has been removed. Hancock Pond still has power lines down, but is finally passable.”

In his opening line of Loon Echo Land Trust’s weekly e-mail, executive director Thom Perkins said, “We could use some help.”

“As you have no doubt have heard or experienced, the recent storm has had quite an impact on Loon Echo’s service area.  We hope you are okay. Now that the weather has settled down, we are starting to evaluate the impact and are beginning to resolving any damage to Loon Echo’s trails. But, there are a lot of miles to cover,” Perkins said. “If you find yourself out on Loon Echo’s trails and notice trees down, erosion issues or anything that should be brought to our attention, please e-mail Jon Evans, our Stewardship Manager.”

Evans can be reached  at stewardship@lelt.org  or call 207-647-4352 with details.

“Your eyes and ears are most helpful in multiplying our effectiveness and most welcome in our effort to get the trails back into shape for you,” Perkins added.

Charting the process of restoring power

On the Central Maine Power website (cmpco.com), one can follow the utility company’s efforts to restore power throughout the state.

Here’s what the outage figures looked like throughout the Lake Region:

Cumberland County

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 82,894

2:42 p.m. 71,598

4:47 p.m. 71,426

7:53 p.m. 64,784

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 51,187

11:48 a.m. 45,085

Bridgton

4,848 customers

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 1605

2:42 p.m. 1108

4:47 p.m. 1142

7:53 p.m. 1176

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 1024

11:48 a.m. 676

Casco

2986

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 2587

2:42 p.m. 2575

4:47 p.m. 2575

7:53 p.m. 2635

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 2173

11:48 a.m. 2057

Harrison

1996

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 897

2:42 p.m. 881

4:47 p.m. 883

7:53 p.m. 846

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 200

11:48 a.m. 200

Naples

3531

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 3434

2:42 p.m. 2135

4:47 p.m. 2143

7:53 p.m. 2188

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 1605

11:48 a.m. 1542

Raymond

3360

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 2260

2:42 p.m. 2176

4:47 p.m. 2199

7:53 p.m. 2298

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 2026

11:48 a.m. 1752

Sebago

1666

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 1608

2:42 p.m. 1588

4:47 p.m. 1588

7:53 p.m. 1618

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 1579

11:48 a.m. 1455

Oxford County

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 11,697

2:42 p.m. 11,616

4:47 p.m. 11,811

7:53 p.m. 11,649

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 7645

11:48 a.m. 6914

Brownfield

1037

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 240

2:42 p.m. 293

4:47 p.m. 191

7:53 p.m. 193

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 189

11:48 a.m. 217

Denmark

1222

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 692

2:42 p.m. 692

4:47 p.m. 691

7:53 p.m. 642

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 522

11:48 a.m. 479

Fryeburg

2242

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 1326

2:42 p.m. 1259

4:47 p.m. 1259

7:53 p.m. 1286

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 931

11:48 a.m. 357

Lovell

1349

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 1066

2:42 p.m. 1062

4:47 p.m. 1062

7:53 p.m. 1075

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 936

11:48 a.m. 935

Sweden

382

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m. 287

2:42 p.m. 238

4:47 p.m. 238

7:53 p.m. 238

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 223

11:48 a.m. 213

Waterford

1452

Tuesday, Oct. 31

11:53 a.m.658

2:42 p.m. 658

4:47 p.m. 658

7:53 p.m. 440

Wednesday, Nov. 1

1:26 a.m. 333

11:48 a.m. 113