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A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 2 November 2017

Drought may have aided storm that walloped Maine, Northeast

By PATRICK WHITTLE winds were exceptionally
Associated Press powerful, with four times
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — the force of a common
Drought conditions, recent wind storm, he said.
rainfall and an unusual “These are lot of different
storm path in Maine may conditions that have come
have contributed to the together. This may have
large numbers of trees that been a unique situation
toppled during a storm that where nobody could’ve
walloped the Northeast this predicted this,” he said.
week, officials said. Other states in the North-
The storm cut power to east also were still cleaning
nearly 1.5 million homes up from the storm.
and businesses in the re- Several school districts
gion at its peak. It left more in New Hampshire were
Mainers in the dark than struggling to get up and
even the infamous 1998 ice running. In Vermont, dairy
storm, but the long-term ef- farmers who lost electric-
fects likely will be much dif- ity were relying on genera-
ferent. tors to power the equip-
Because of dry conditions, ment that allows them to
the trees’ roots weren’t milk cows and to keep milk
healthy, and ground con- cool.
ditions and foliage that re- Rhode Island Gov. Gina
mained on the trees made Pat Durham cuts pine tree that fell on Corey and Rachel Graham’s land in Freeport, Maine, Raimondo, a Democrat,
them more susceptible Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Drought conditions, recent rainfall and an unusual storm path in Maine has ordered a review of
to wind, said Peter Rog- may have contributed to the large numbers of trees that toppled during a storm that walloped the National Grid’s response to
ers, acting director of the Northeast this week, officials said. a storm that knocked out
Maine Emergency Man- (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) power to hundreds of thou-
agement Agency. storm,” Rogers said. Across the Northeast, more different direction, said Wil- sands of people in New
Virtually all of New England Maine’s two major utilities than 440,000 people were liam Livingston, professor of England. Nearly 30,000
is either experiencing a were still reporting more still without power Wednes- forest resources at the Uni- people still were without
moderate drought or ab- than 200,000 customers day. versity of Maine. power in Rhode Island on
normally dry conditions, ac- without power Wednesday Several factors came into In Maine, nor’easters cre- Wednesday.
cording to the U.S. Drought afternoon. play to knock down so ate northeastern winds, The wind storm also
Monitor. The driest condi- But they said favorable many trees: The dry fall and thunderstorms blow in caused trouble for Am-
tions are along the coast, weather and extra crews stunted the growth of tree from the west and north, trak’s Downeaster train be-
where the wind gusts were will allow them to com- roots, recent soaking rain but these powerful winds tween Boston and Bruns-
the strongest. plete the task of restor- softened the soil, and pow- came from the southeast, wick, Maine. The service
“It was kind of a perfect ing power this weekend. erful winds came from a Livingston said. And the was shut down Monday
and Tuesday, and then
Airlines see Thanksgiving travel rising 3 percent a train-bus hybrid service
was temporarily thwarted
Wednesday by a broken-
By DAVID KOENIG day, with about 2.9 million during the first nine months percent over last year and down Pan-Am freight train.
AP Airlines Writer people flying. of this year, the nine ma- labor costs have risen 8 The scope of the damage
Get ready for bigger airport The group said that airlines jor publicly traded U.S. air- percent, according to the in Maine made compari-
crowds over Thanksgiving are adding about 86,000 lines had a pretax profit of trade group. sons to the 1998 ice storm
this year. seats a day over the holi- $14.7 billion. That is a slight Heimlich said he doesn’t inevitable.
The main trade group for day stretch, more than the decrease, however, from believe airlines will lose According to the Maine
U.S. airlines predicts that expected increase in trav- 2016 and 2015 due to high- money as long as the Emergency Manage-
28.5 million Americans will elers of 69,000 a day. er costs for fuel and labor. economy remains solid. ment Agency, that storm
fly over a 12-day period While airlines make the bulk “There is a consensus out He credited strong travel resulted in six deaths and
around the holiday, an in- of their profits over the sum- there that we have seen demand on economic caused hundreds of mil-
crease of 3 percent over mer, the Thanksgiving and the peak of this cycle,” said growth and increases lions of dollars in damage
last year. Christmas holidays are also John Heimlich, the group’s in personal income and to public utilities, private
Airlines for America officials key periods for the industry, chief economist. “As an household net worth, and property and the forest in-
said Wednesday that the which is enjoying a long industry, expenses are out- he ticked off a long list of dustry. All 16 Maine coun-
Sunday after Thanksgiving boom. pacing revenues.” steps airlines are taking to ties were declared federal
will be the busiest travel The trade group said that Fuel costs in 2017 are up 17 contain costs.q disaster areas. q