Fierce New Storm Socks It To Maine

A new storm knocked out electrical service for thousands of customers Saturday, even as utility crews were close to wrapping up repairs to power lines ripped down by New England’s last devastating storm.

On Friday, Central Maine Power Co. had reported that only about 1,000 business and residential customers were still off line because of the storm earlier this month that blacked out hundreds of thousands of people across the Northeast and Quebec.

On Saturday, however, the number of powerless customers in Maine had risen to about 75,000 because of a storm that piled snow up to 10 inches deep and glazed it with ice.

“This is a setback, but we made extensive preparations for this type of event,” said Central Maine Power spokesman Mark Ishkanian. “We have every available resource working to restore power and more crews are prepared to come to Maine if needed.”

Many of those blacked out Saturday had escaped the fury of the first storm.

Across the state line, Public Service Co. of New Hampshire reported about 20,000 customers without power Saturday, but not in the communities hardest hit by the ice storm two weeks ago.

“This is in a different area - unfortunately, it’s a much more heavily populated area,” said utility spokesman Martin Murray.