By Dan Elliott

I was sitting in my home early Monday morning when it happened. I had skipped work to try and catch up on some schoolwork and, God willing, maybe even a few hours of sleep. I had just finished up with one of my assignments when I heard the unmistakable whistle of the wind blowing against the side of my mobile home. Then I felt it — the gusts had picked up in what seemed like mere seconds. Then, minutes later, I heard the sound of trees rustling and their branches buckling, and ultimately breaking. The lights had flickered briefly, but I was no fool. Power would soon be out.

And around 4 a.m., I kissed the modern-day conveniences goodbye: no more binge-watching old episodes of “Married… with Children,” no more baking breaded chicken strips for my bi-nightly Cheesy salsa chicken. And, perhaps most importantly, no more coffee to keep me awake and alert for that assignment that was due this week… which one was it? It didn’t matter now, I figured. Without power, I wouldn’t be able to type it out on the computer. The rain had now begun to pound fiercely against my roof, albeit in short bursts here and there. I would have been more enthralled with the symphony that Mother Nature was orchestrating outside if I wasn’t so busy fumbling around for my flashlight, which was hidden in a kitchen drawer I would have to re-organize eventually.

I knew even before the first hour had ended that people would be comparing this to the famous Ice Storm of ‘98 the next day. Despite causing more power outages than the Ice Storm (370,000 was the last number I heard before writing this), this was not the Ice Storm. Not even close.

I remember being significantly younger when it hit, and despite having my nose glued to the first-generation Game Boy during the storm’s duration, I remember hearing the horror stories of families that didn’t fare as well as me. Many people, like our family, did not have power — some, not even hot water. When school had resumed, I was greeted of tales by fellow classmates who had congregated together with those more fortunate to have electricity and the opportunity to take a hot shower. It reminded me of one big boarding house, something like the premise of a really bad sitcom.  But this wasn’t funny at all, and there were those who lost their lives during the ice storm, be it from carbon-monoxide poisoning or from injury sustained from the storm itself. A hard wind and power loss is nothing compared to an ice storm.

Having nothing else to do at home, I decided to survey the damage in my local area. Living 3 miles outside of town, it was not long before I found the culprit of my power loss: On the left side of the road, a tree of moderate-size lay suspended atop a power line. A little further I navigated through tendrils of loose power lines that reminded me of a thicket of jungle vines. The first intersection had no power to the traffic lights, and anyone waiting to make a left turn was cursed to wait quite a while as heavy traffic prevented them from doing so. Topsham was dark: no lights, no open restaurants or supermarkets. It was like the storm had created in its presence some new holiday which prevented the normal day’s business from occurring.

I stopped by the Brunswick Campus as well, seeing an opportunity for an article to replace the Talent Show piece I was supposed to do. However, with the electricity cut from the storm, the show was canceled, and that meant I needed a new subject of interest. The campus itself went relatively unscathed, with a few of the groundskeepers collecting debris from the parking lot across the street from the campus. Most of the most notable damage was seen on the stretch of Admiral Fitch Avenue leading up to the school; tree branches littered the drive as construction workers carried on their business of constructing a new building. A traffic light hung precariously from a cable, cordoned off by caution signs warning travelers to be wary.

Central Maine Power has taken to social media, reminding customers to be patient as it works to restore the grid back to power. I can empathize with them — after all, we live in a technologically advanced age where most of our media is consumed digitally. But while some have it better than others, I’ll be patient and wait it out. After all, I’ve certainly seen it worse.