Strong winds cause thousands of outages Saturday morning

Updated at 11:40 a.m

According to Central Maine Power's outage map, about 70,000 people were without power Saturday morning.

According to CMP spokesman Jon Breed, crews were prepared for the winches and deployed throughout the service area to begin repair work. Some line repairs may be delayed because workers cannot use truck lifts until wind speeds fall below 30 miles per hour.

At around 10:35 a.m., the majority of outages were in Cumberland, Kennebec and Franklin counties. According to CMP's outage map, the three counties each have nearly 10,000 outages.

The default numbers continue to fluctuate. As of 10:35 a.m., 71,345 homes in CMP's service area were without power.

At around 11:05 a.m., Versant Power reported 13,413 outages across its service area. The outages are attributed to high winds and recovery efforts are underway.

The outage had spread to the Bangor Mall complex, and Oriental Jade said on its Facebook page that there was a power outage. The Bangor Walmart on Stillwater Avenue was closed to the public after a power outage.

The CMP was not aware of any fires caused by fallen tree branches. However, the public warns to avoid fallen cables as they can cause serious injuries.

At approximately 11:35 a.m., Pittsfield Police announced that Madawaska Road is currently closed from Main Street to Waverly Street. And in Minot, Pottle Hill Road is closed at the Millett Road intersection.

Many communities across the state could experience wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. A strong wind warning is in effect until at least 12 p.m

Numerous fire departments across the state announced that fire permits were canceled today due to the high winds.

Bridgton Fire and Rescue noted that numerous trees had fallen in the area and road closures were expected.

Further details were initially not known.