ORIENT, Maine — While Tuesday’s powerful swath of thunderstorms caused the greatest amount of damage in northern parts of Aroostook County, some southern parts also experienced heavy storms.
Frank Bolton, a resident of Orient, said Wednesday that one powerful storm passed through his area Tuesday afternoon, snapping trees and tree limbs from both strong winds and lightning. One of Bolton’s trees was split open by a lightning strike.
“From Colin Bartlett’s office on U.S. Route 1 in Amity to the cut-off for the Boundary Road leading to Fosterville, New Brunswick, at least 15 trees fell alongside or onto Route 1,” he said. “On Sunset Park Road going south to the Marina in Orient, several tree branches fell onto the road and several camps fronting East Grand Lake to the left of the road had trees split in two.”
Bolton said at least one resident, Joe Gagnon, had a tree limb fall onto his power line, ripping the box from the side of the camp.
Joe Fagnant, who owns a camp on the lake, said his property was spared from some of the more serious damage.
“We had a small tree come down on our wires that were cleared by Eastern Maine Electric,” he said Thursday. “There were big trees in the woods behind our camp that snapped in half. Our trampoline float moved down the lake and our camp road was partially blocked by a downed tree.”
His wife and daughter were at the camp at the time of the storm and attempted to leave in their vehicle.
“They experienced heavy winds, lightning, and driving rain,” he said. “They ran to the car to get to the road so trees would not come down on them. When they tried to get to Route 1, the storm was subsiding, but both access points on Schoolhouse Road were blocked by downed trees.”
Power was out for several hours in the area as a crew from Eastern Maine Electric Coop worked to repair the damage.
