MPBN's destroyed antennae lies on the ground in Camden.
Power and road crews are cleaning up damage this morning from a fierce storm that downed power lines and toppled trees in southern and central Maine, flooded roads, and dumped heavy wet snow in western and northern areas. The National Weather Service officials say some communities were hit with wind gusts as high as 70 miles an hour.
The wind-driven rain also destroyed MPBN's antenna atop Ragged Mountain in Camden, knocking 90.5 WMEP-FM, off the air for what company officials say could be an extended period of time. Meanwhile, officials say, midcoast listeners should tune in to 90.1 or 90.9, or access the live stream on the Web at mpbn.net.
More than 100,000 households and businesses in the state are without power and dozens of schools are closed. The wind is also being blamed for spreading a hotel fire in Hampton, NH, which destroyed an entire downtown block.
A flooded road in Waldoboro. (Photo courtesy Lincoln County Emergency Management.)
Several flooded roads remain closed at this hour, and a flood warning remains in effect until 3:45 this afternoon for urban areas and small streams in southern Maine and east centeral and southeast New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, Gov. John Baldacci has declared an emergency, in order to pave the way for additional power crews to travel into the state to help restore electricity.