Emera Maine on Wednesday released an update on its effort to restore power to customers affected by a storm that brought damaging winds to the state this week.

The powerful storm brought down trees and limbs throughout the state, damaging utility poles and power lines. Nearly half a million homes and business across the state were left without power.

Emera Maine at 4 p.m. Wednesday reported that more than 36,000 customers remained without power.

The company earlier in the day released updated power restoration projections.

  • Southern Penobscot County
    Two-thirds of customers who were without power Wednesday morning were expected to have power restored by the end of the day. The company expected to restore power to 90 percent of all affected customers by 10 p.m. Friday, with almost all remaining customers restored by end of day Saturday.
  • Hancock County
    Half of the customers who did not have power Wednesday morning were expected to have power by the end of the day. The company expected to restore service to 90 percent of customers by 10 p.m. Friday, with almost all remaining customers restored by end of day Saturday.
  • Northern Penobscot and Piscataquis Counties
    One-third of customers who did not have power Wednesday morning were expected to have service restored by the end of the day. The company expected to restore power to 90 percent of affected customers by 10 p.m. Thursday, with almost all remaining customers restored by end of day Friday.
  • Washington and Aroostook Counties
    Power Wednesday afternoon had been nearly fully restored.

Wind gusts Monday exceeded 65 mph in Penobscot and Hancock counties. Southern Penobscot and Hancock counties were hit the hardest, accounting for 75 percent of the outages.

Emera Maine said in a Tuesday news release that “This storm caused the most outages we have seen since the 1998 ice storm.”

Central Maine Power at about 4 p.m. Wednesday reported that nearly 189,000 customers remained without power.

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