There’s been more wacky winter weather with a rare February thunderstorm warning in Maine. Officials say strong gusts knocked out power for more than 16,000 homes and businesses.
Flashes of lightning and powerful thunderclaps swept across the state Thursday morning.
The thunderstorm warnings were the first issued in February by the National Weather Service in Gray in 19 years and the first issued by the Caribou office since it was created in 17 years ago.
Central Maine Power reported that power is out to about 8,700 customers in Maine. According to the CMP power outage page, about 4,800 of those customers are in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. Emera reports about 8,200 customers without power.
Warm temperatures followed the severe weather. The temperature climbed to 53 degrees Thursday in Portland, breaking the old record of 71 set in 1985.
This story will be updated.
Freezing rain and gusty winds from a line of thunderstorms hit parts of our service area overnight, causing an estimated 10,000 outages 1/4
— Central Maine Power (@cmpco) February 25, 2016
Most damage is in a line running from Sebago NE’ly thru parts of Cumberland, Oxford, & Franklin Counties, to southern Somerset County 2/4
— Central Maine Power (@cmpco) February 25, 2016
We have moved crews to areas with the most damage. Black ice on some roads could affect speed of restoration 3/4
— Central Maine Power (@cmpco) February 25, 2016
We continue to assess damage and will provide estimated restoration times once they are established 4/4
— Central Maine Power (@cmpco) February 25, 2016
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