By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    The Patriots Day storm that brought snow and more than four inches of rain to the greater Portland area, slowly loosened its grip on the Northeast on Tuesday, allowing citizens and municipal officials to get to the task of cleaning up.  Although it was too early for an accurate assessment of damages, public officials from South Portland and Cape Elizabeth said they would be dealing with the storm’s aftermath for weeks to come.
    South Portland City Manager Ted Jankowski said with the exception of a few isolated places, electricity was restored Monday night. He said downed trees and wires had kept the eastern part of the city offline.
    He said the city “faired relatively well” and the major concerns were people stranded in their cars, flooded basements, and downed wires. The early morning tide, accompanied by high winds, was the worst part of the storm, he said.
    Dana Anderson, Director of South Portland Public Works, said his “outstanding” crew was out for 48 hours straight. Public works spent Tuesday cutting up debris and removing it from the roadways, a task Anderson estimated will take another two to three weeks. He said most of the fallen trees had been removed from right of ways and sidewalks, but there were still three or four more trees that fell on houses and had yet to be removed. Anderson also said the storm had a major impact on beaches in terms of erosion. He said Willard Beach and Bug Light Park were hard hit areas.
    Cape Elizabeth was still experiencing power outages on Tuesday as Town Manager Michael McGovern estimated one third of the community was without electricity. Public Works Director Robert Malley said a lot of large trees fell and took wires down with them.
    He said there were still almost 100 streets without power on Tuesday.
    The sewage pumping stations were also offline, and he said Portland Water District was bringing generators to the various stations. He said his crew worked from 6 a.m. to midnight on Monday, unclogging drains, removing trees, setting up barricades, and closing roads.
    On Tuesday, the town was still dealing with road blockages including Shore Road, Old Ocean House Road, and portions of Sawyer Road.
    “It’s clear that we probably had more tree damage from this storm than in the last 25 years,” said McGovern. Fir trees, he said, do not have strong root systems to withstand ground saturation. Malley said the combination of strong winds and heavy participation and ground that was already soft from the last weather event, caused the trees to be uprooted rather than break in half. As public works collects and grinds the fallen trees, Anderson estimated there to be “thousands and thousands of dollars” worth of damage.
    Cape Elizabeth Fire and Rescue Chief Philip McGouldrick said the department received a high volume of calls about flooded basements. He saw several basements with four to five feet of standing water. In those instances, he said firefighters help the homeowner shut the furnace off, but they didn’t have time to do much else.
    “We had eight trucks responding on calls,” he said. “As we finished up one call, we went on to another call.” McGouldrick said the department didn’t respond to any serious calls and for the most part people were cautious if they had to go outside.   
    As of 5 p.m. Monday, Jankowski said South Portland’s Public Safety division had received 46 service calls. McGovern said the town brought in an extra dispatcher to handle the steady volume of calls. A. Charles Kennedy, Cape Elizabeth’s Emergency Preparedness Director, estimated the dispatch center received 400 calls.
    At a recent Town Council meeting, McGovern urged citizens not to call the dispatch number during emergencies with non-emergency questions, such as when power would be restored. He said dispatchers do not have such information. McGovern asked that residents take steps to be more self-sufficient, such as keeping a battery operated radio handy.
    Among those calls was a rescue call for Fort Williams Park, where a person had been injured on the rocks. McGovern said town officials urged people to stay away from the coast, but some people still insisted on getting a closer look.
    According to the National Weather Service Web Site, Cape Elizabeth experienced 81 miles per hour wind gusts around 8 a.m. on Monday. The heaviest wind gust was 156 miles per hour recorded at Mount Washington in New Hampshire.