GORHAM, Maine — Power companies are preparing for the big storm heading to Maine this week. It comes after Central Maine Power and Versant Power crews restored power to thousands a week or so ago after the state was hit with strong wind and ice.
CMP inspected its transmission line Tuesday from Alfred to Rockland by helicopter to ensure their system is working properly ahead of the inbound storm.
"[We're] making sure that all our Ts are crossed and our ls are dotted, and we do that with being proactive with flying our system and making sure that we stage our crews in various locations," George Marston, CMP's transmission workforce regional operations manager, said. "If they find something, we're able to quickly dispatch those crews to those areas to make repairs."
CMP conducts helicopter inspections every spring and fall, as well as before and after any storm. Marston said they began their annual spring inspection Monday.
"Today we're transitioning over to a pre-storm flight for the integrity for our system to make sure that everything is fine and working as designed," Marston said.
Versant Power is anticipating a significant number of power outages and is preparing for a multiday restoration.
"The kind of snow that we're expecting is heavy wet snow, and with that, that sticks to trees and branches and makes branches more susceptible to falling on powerlines is the reality," Marissa Minor, Versant Power's communications supervisor, said.
Versant will have 113 crews ready to respond to outages in the coming days, Minor said.
"We're hoping this is the last storm of the season, but we're ready to respond," Minor added.