A utility pole hangs in the middle of Bradman Street in Auburn on Saturday. A tree branch broke off in front of Temple Shalom, causing the cancellation of Yom Kippur services. Central Maine Power was reporting over 80,000 power outages across the state at one point Saturday morning. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Maine experienced its first mass power outage of the 2024 fall season as more than 80,000 Central Maine Power customers throughout the state woke up to no power early Saturday morning.

CMP spokesperson Jonathan Breed said Saturday morning that crews were prepared to begin work as soon as the first outages were reported around 6 a.m.

“The company began tracking and preparing for a possible wind event mid-week, going as far as to hold back from sending crews to support Hurricane Milton recovery efforts in Florida,” Breed said in a morning news release. “Line crews and tree care crews were placed on double coverage on Friday evening and began working to respond to outages before 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.”

Breed said CMP crews were joined by crews from sister companies in New York and Connecticut and contractors from Canada.

“For safety, line crews are prohibited from raising bucket trucks when wind speeds are greater than 30 miles per hour,” Breed said

An Auburn Public Works employee picks up pieces of trees Saturday morning that broke off in high winds on North River Road in Auburn. At one point Saturday morning, Central Maine Power was reporting over 80,000 power outages across the state. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Androscoggin County had 1,915 customers offline as of 6:20 p.m. Saturday. About 276 Auburn and 321 Lewiston customers were without power. Greene had 237 without power, followed by Leeds with 194, Livermore Falls with 233, and Minot with 242.

For much of the day, Lisbon stood out as the most affected municipality in the county, with nearly a quarter of customers, just over 1,100, without power as of 3:30 p.m. By 6:20, 226 were still in the dark.

Franklin County had nearly 6,500 customers offline around the same time Saturday. Wilton stood out with over half of all customers, just over 1,100, losing power. All 207 Madrid customers were in the dark. Other notable outages included Avon with 187; Carrabassett Valley, 204; Chesterville, 684; Farmington, 628; Freeman, 136; Industry, 490; Jay, 502; New Sharon, 423; Phillips, 401; Salem, 194; Strong, 138; Temple, 227; and Weld, 561.

In Oxford County, Waterford had just under half of all customers, some 692, without power; as well as Bethel, 172; Byron, 100; Dixfield, 144; Lovell, 155; Norway, 218; and Stoneham, 309.