ice storm of 1998

“In the shelter, someone may have it bad, but someone next to them had it worse.”.

Red Cross trucks delivered food to neighborhoods where residents were stranded. Heavy rain associated with a warm moist airmass overspread a shallow but dense layer of cold air producing ice accumulations in excess of three inches.

Rain fell for the next two days, freezing into a heavy layer of ice up to 3 inches thick.

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And on that note, please nominate your favorite local business that could use some love right now: Michelle has lived in many places, but counts Maine as one of the best.

It was the most costly natural disaster in Canada ever and Environmental Canada concluded that this weather disaster affected more people than any other previous weather event in Canadian history26. On winter days when things are a bit more manageable, make sure you’re doing something fun in the snow! The storm caused some $81 million in damage to the state’s electrical utility system.

In communities across the state, neighbors banded together to keep warm, clean up fallen limbs and cheer the utility crews that arrived to restore power. Downed power lines and trees littered roads coated in sheets of ice. Employees scrambled to find warm clothing, food and hotel rooms for crews.

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And thousands of Mainers began their first of many days without power. var cookies = document.cookie.split('; ');

if(/logout/.test(window.location.search)){ The Ice Storm of 1998 was one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history.

In fact, most Mainers are so well-acquainted with snow that a few inches of wintry weather doesn’t slow things down.

Get more stories delivered right to your email. The ice proved too much for the power lines and poles that crisscross the state. Stream ad-free or purchase CD's and MP3s now on Amazon.com. This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login. They rode in a helicopter over Down East Maine, where a major transmission line from Bangor to Washington County was heavily damaged. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Everywhere the linemen went, they were greeted by Mainers thankful to see the bucket trucks turn down their streets.

} A catastrophic ice storm and flood event struck northern New England and northern New York during the first two weeks of January 1998.

All 16 counties were declared federal disaster areas and 11 million acres of forest were affected. Trees bowed under the weight of the ice and snapping limbs echoed like rifle shots across Maine.

“I realized to my horror that we were in danger,” he said in an interview last week. Hi {SUB NAME}, to comment on stories you must create a commenting profile.

I remember one of them saying ‘If the power is out (at home), people swear at us.’ Up here, people came out of their houses with coffee and doughnuts,” King said. Please wait for the page to reload.

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CMP keeps pre-assembled storm packs of special repair equipment on hand and all CMP employees are cross-trained in multiple positions. “We had seen ice storms before, but nothing of that prolonged nature. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name.

Four Portland-area television stations collaborated to raise money for the Red Cross. 569 0 obj << /Linearized 1 /O 571 /H [ 807 754 ] /L 501720 /E 102567 /N 49 /T 490221 >> endobj xref 569 19 0000000016 00000 n 0000000731 00000 n 0000001561 00000 n 0000001735 00000 n 0000001990 00000 n 0000002045 00000 n 0000002100 00000 n 0000002716 00000 n 0000002830 00000 n 0000004397 00000 n 0000004505 00000 n 0000004584 00000 n 0000005533 00000 n 0000006579 00000 n 0000033834 00000 n 0000041471 00000 n 0000074422 00000 n 0000000807 00000 n 0000001539 00000 n trailer << /Size 588 /Info 566 0 R /Root 570 0 R /Prev 490210 /ID[<0b5fca109abce3d337f48df630b2fd7f><0b5fca109abce3d337f48df630b2fd7f>] >> startxref 0 %%EOF 570 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Pages 561 0 R /Outlines 296 0 R >> endobj 586 0 obj << /S 678 /T 864 /O 980 /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 587 0 R >> stream While we’re continuing to feature destinations that make our state wonderful, we don’t expect or encourage you to go check them out immediately.

An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or, in some parts of the United States, as a silver thaw. In total, the storm cost the state $320 million and led to at least four deaths.

Twenty years ago, the company had to individually call other utility companies for help. It’s Impossible To Forget The Horrible Ice Storm That Ravaged Maine In 1998.

“It started and it just didn’t end,” Gail Rice, a spokeswoman for CMP, said of the 1998 storm. } var date = new Date();

King’s 1998 State of the State address: On Jan. 15, Vice President Al Gore arrived to tour the damage and told Mainers “you need to know you’re not alone.” He and King drove first to Auburn to look at piles of twisted poles and lines littering the roads. %PDF-1.2 %�� The kids go to school, the adults go to work and life pretty much continues as always. totalViews: function() { “This was life-threatening.”. We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. King called on the National Guard for help, made contact with utility companies to see what support they needed and started making phone calls. Ingenious, self-reliant, neighborly, creative, tough, funny, spontaneous, caring.”.

They put signs in their yards – some saying they didn’t have power, others thanking utility workers for their help.

if (cookieName.test(cookies[i])) { In Bangor, the radio station WVOM became a clearing house for people who needed water, firewood or someone to check on a relative.

“The forests of Maine are healthy and therefore resilient,” Bergdahl said. “We knew a storm was coming and people were prepared, but no one knew how much ice was going to come,” said April Caron, a business development manager for the American Red Cross who lived in Sanford at the time.

Login. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada , the insured losses of the Ice Storm of 1998 … In fact, most Mainers are so well-acquainted with snow that a few inches of wintry weather doesn’t slow things down. Those utility workers from North Carolina joined crews from other states that headed to Maine to help get the power back on. Here’s why. This was the best example of that.”.

His guests for the evening included linemen, volunteers and others who pitched in to help their neighbors. LL Bean gave us parkas for those guys.”. }()); (function(){

The ice storm of 1998 led to changes in how CMP responds to major weather events, Rice said.

Our daily headlines email is delivered each morning. It was Jan. 6, 1998, when the National Weather Service warned Mainers to ready themselves for a major ice storm. In some towns, people dragged out their grills, emptied their freezers and had neighborhood barbecues. We believe that supporting local attractions is important now more than ever and we hope our articles inspire your future adventures!

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“The out-of-state linemen who came up here were astonished at the reaction of Maine people.

window.MSPAN = { for (var i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) { Signs of the ice storm still linger in Maine’s forests, where 11 million acres were affected and about $28 million in damage was reported. var cookieName = new RegExp('MSPAN_Paywall_views_' + now.getMonth()); Twenty years ago, the company had to individually call other utility companies for help.

“If you didn’t have to be anywhere, it really was beautiful. The Ice Storm of 1998 came with no howling winds, no torrents of floodwater, no seismic convulsions, not even a clap of thunder. Now, one request to a network of utility companies that stretches west to Ohio and south to Virginia brings immediate help.

It really was the best of Maine in the sense of people reaching out to one another,” said Sen. Angus King, who was governor in 1998. Hundreds of them came back.”. Article content.

There wasn’t a single part of the CMP coverage area unaffected by the weather, but certain locations – from western York County up to Androscoggin County and over to central Maine – were particularly hard hit. "use strict"; The Ice Storm of 1998 was the worst ice storm in Canadian history.

"+document.location.host.replace(/^\w+\./, '')+"; path=/; expires=" + date.toGMTString(); But, in 1998, we received winter weather that forced many of us to stop our normal lives and accept that nature is in control far more than we ever will be.

Most Mainers know about snow. Maine General Medical Center became an impromptu emergency shelter for frail senior citizens and others with health problems and no heat. �W5\��!�1+l��C�l3�_�B�-�C��E�`ahC��x�w��>"�ؓ�+V�@B�1*T��m6&�t�c_��h2��8��'� U��0. “People were so willing to help each other,” she said. By Jan. 8, King had lost power at his home in Brunswick, but that was among the least of his concerns given the unprecedented storm, damage across the state and temperatures that were expected to start dropping.

National Guardsmen rode along with out-of-state crews to help them navigate the roads. At the height of the storm, 275,000 CMP customers had no power, though more than 600,000 people across the state lost power at some point during the storm.

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“It was three solid days of light freezing rain.”.

The North American Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as Great Ice Storm of 1998 and Great Ice Storm '98) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms which combined to strike a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the United States, in January 1998. By Jan. 8, a Thursday, Mainers began to lose power.

You will receive an email to complete the registration. Flip through front page coverage of the Ice Storm of ’98, UMaine student from Buxton remembered for work ethic, athletics, personal style, Maine reports 59 new cases of COVID-19, largest 1-day spike since May, John Neuts, 29, skilled boatsman and champion snowmobile racer, Moose finally captured in South Portland after 2 days on the lam, Another Portland restaurant is forced to shut its doors.

“It was an extraordinary coming together. Love Maine? Bergdahl said trees that were broken are more susceptible to rot fungi.

What many recall of the Great Ice Storm of 1998: The sounds. “It looked like a giant had walked along and just crushed it,” King said.