Power Restoration Could Take Time on New Hampshire, Maine Seacoast

Power outages from the gusty winds and heavy rain will linger for much of the day, as conditions are not safe for crews to make restorations in some cases.

The National Weather Service reports the storm dropped nearly two inches in many places in Rockingham, Strafford, and York counties. Nearly three inches fell in Strafford and Hollis in York County.

Most winds around the Seacoast region were in the 35-45 mph range as of 10 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. A wind gust of 56 mph was recorded in Rochester and 54 mph in Portsmouth Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Over 80,000 customers were without power as of 11 a.m. in New Hampshire and Maine, according to the respective utility outage maps.

• Eversource: Over 33,000 customers were without power statewide including Newfields, Newmarket, Rochester and Wakefield in the Seacoast region.
• Until: Approximately 3,700 customers are without power mostly in Danville, Exeter
• NHEC: Approximately 11,000 outages statewide including Epping, Farmington, Nottingham, and Raymond.
• Liberty has a handful of outages.
• Central Maine Power has 32,400 customers without power especially in Acton, Hollis, Limerick, Saco, Sanford, South Berwick, and York.

“This is a long duration wind event, meaning we expect new outages to appear on the system for the next several hours as crews pick up issues that have already been reported,” Unitil External Affairs Manager Alec O’Meara said in a statement. “Additionally, there may be periods where bucket truck arms cannot safely extend due to the winds, further delaying efforts. We will be working to address public safety issues with first responders and restoring power where possible during the peak hours of the event.”

Sixth Street and Gulf Road in Dover were closed to traffic because of trees in the roadway, according to a message from the city of Dover.

The rain is expected to taper off Monday evening with winds decreasing.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via X (Twitter) @DanAlexanderNH