Lee downs timber and dumps rain throughout Maine earlier than turning towards Canada
As a weakened post-tropical cyclone Lee was spinning eastward away from the Maine coast Saturday night, energy outages and heavy rainfall gave the impression to be the 2 essential issues left behind in its wake.
Greater than 85,000 Mainers have been with out electrical energy at round 5:30 p.m., in response to Central Maine Energy and Versant. Most of Washington County and elements of japanese coastal Hancock County had acquired between 1 ½ and three inches of rain — with extra rain nonetheless to come back for all of japanese Maine.
Nationwide Climate Service flood watches remained in impact for japanese Aroostook, central Penobscot and most of Hancock and Washington counties, as did a flash flood warning from Gouldsboro east to Whitneyville that was as a consequence of expire at 9 p.m. Saturday. Wind gusts between 20 and 30 mph had been felt all through most of japanese Maine, with some locations comparable to Bangor, Bar Harbor, Caribou and Greenville getting gusts of 45 or 50 mph.
The less-dire flood watches are anticipated to run out Sunday morning because the trailing fringe of the massive storm strikes towards Newfoundland.
“Hurricane Lee is predicted to provide heavy rainfall by tonight,” the climate service mentioned. “Domestically heavy rainfall of as much as one inch per hour is feasible. The bottom is already saturated as a consequence of earlier rainfall, so any extra rain might develop into runoff, inflicting city and small stream flooding.”
Except for downed tree limbs all through the state, there have been few stories earlier Saturday of flooding or different harm, although some Mainers did have flooded basements.
The Waldo County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned a 50-year-old man has died after a tree fell on his car whereas he was driving on Route 1 in Searsport simply earlier than 9 a.m. Saturday.
Additionally among the many stories have been a tree that fell and crushed a automobile in Rockland and a Bar Harbor tour boat broke free and washed up in opposition to the rocky shoreline, although details about the extent of injury to the boat was unavailable Saturday.
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, Lee was thought of to be a post-tropical storm with its middle positioned over the Digby Peninsula in Nova Scotia, about 50 miles southeast of Lubec. The storm had most sustained winds of 70 mph, under the 74-mph threshold required to be thought of a class 1 hurricane.
There had been questions this week concerning the projected observe of Lee, comparable to whether or not it would make landfall in Maine and whether or not it might nonetheless retain its hurricane standing when it did so. However because the storm moved north it tracked farther east, making landfall in southwest Nova Scotia, and weakened considerably. It was nonetheless thought of a hurricane within the wee hours of Saturday morning, however by the point most Mainers wakened, it had degraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
In Eastport, the facility was out for a lot of the day and other people holed up of their properties to flee the climate, although some ventured out to get a view of the wind and rain alongside the town’s waterfront.
In Maine’s midcoast, wind speeds hovered round 30 mph all through the day however, as was the case alongside the remainder of the shoreline, there have been no stories in the course of the day Saturday of great flooding.
In Rockland, residents continued about their day on Saturday, going to shops, getting espresso, or watching the consequences of the storm. Because the wind picked up, Trisha Charan and her two sons, Noah and Nolan, stood exterior close to Rockland’s harbor bundled up in raincoats. They got here from Union, about 20 minutes away, to get espresso and see the waves.
Charan mentioned it was her sons’ first hurricane, and the winds have been extra aggressive in Rockland than they have been in Union, so she wished her boys to see it.
“Normally we get winter storms, not the autumn,” Charan mentioned.
BDN author Jules Walkup contributed reporting.
