Storm waves pound ashore sending spray onto The Harborside in downtown Bar Harbor Monday.—STAFF PHOTO BY ROBERT LEVIN

ELLSWORTH — Alton Leighton Jr. couldn’t see the Sally Islands Monday morning from the kitchen window of his home overlooking Gouldsboro Bay. But the 85-year-old retired lobster fisherman didn’t have to see through the fog to know the white horses were rearing their heads out there.

Leighton, who fished Gouldsboro Bay for half a century, could tell by the waves and wind gusts reaching nearly 50 miles per hour that the rocky outcrops clustered at the broad inlet’s mouth were awash in raging seas. He was one of thousands of Hancock County residents who watched and heard the Patriots Day nor’easter unfold from inside their homes or at work. Some ventured out in the driving rains and winds to view the spectacle from their vehicles at Schoodic Point in Winter Harbor, Thunder Hole in Bar Harbor, the Fish Pier in Stonington and other prime lookouts.

In Hancock County, 750 Bangor Hydro Co. customers were still without power by press time on Wednesday. A storm surge and a second day of astronomical high tides, expected to reach over 12 feet Tuesday night, were expected to trigger more flooding in sections of Lamoine, Brooklin, Trenton, Mount Desert and Southwest Harbor. Maine Department of Transportation crews shoveled seaweed, kelp and other marine debris from the causeway linking Deer Isle and Little Deer Isle. Maine Forest Service Rangers pitched in to help clear fallen trees, limbs and debris from roadways and power lines.

Governor John Baldacci called the nor’easter Maine’s worst natural disaster since the 1998 ice storm. He said the state of emergency, imposed Sunday, will remain in effect for a few more days.

Once rains had lightened late Tuesday and Wednesday, dumping a record 9 inches in two days, Hancock County residents emerged from their homes to pick up asphalt shingles blown clear off their roofs, pinpoint leaks and assess other wreckage wrought by the nor’easter. Some remained inside running sump pumps and dealing with flooded basements.

The Patriots Day storm knocked out power all over Hancock County. In Surry, this tree brought down wires on the Morgans Bay Road just east of the Blue Hill town line.—STAFF PHOTO BY STEPHEN RAPPAPORT

Linda Fleury, deputy director of the Hancock County Emergency Management Agency, said Hancock County has not been declared a disaster area, but it was among the areas hard hit in the state. She said Hancock County towns were being asked to file Federal Emergency Management Agency reports to her agency by midweek. She said private citizens and businesses should report storm-related damage to their respective towns.

“Throughout the county, we are looking for reports of damage assessments — both public and private,” she reported Tuesday. She said town officials should report any structural damage to municipal buildings and damage to infrastructure such as washed-out roads, culverts and bridges. “The state has asked us to get our damage reports in as early as possible.”

As the storm peaked on Monday, some 9,500 Bangor Hydro customers were without power in parts of central and eastern Maine stretching from Calais to Sangerville. In Hancock County alone, more than 6,000 households and businesses had no electricity. An elderly Southwest Harbor couple and a Gouldsboro family were forced from their homes and found overnight shelter Monday night.

“We are hoping to have power fully restored by Wednesday, but there are no guarantees,” Bangor Hydro spokesman Susan Faloon said Tuesday, referring to Hancock County customers. She said some remote areas may take longer to reconnect.

Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle towns were among the hardest hit by the nor’easter. Firefighters were working late Monday night setting up barricades at downed wires, pumping flooded basements and helping clear fallen trees after power was turned off.

In Blue Hill Monday morning, fallen trees on power lines near the Falls Bridge caused outages in town and beyond.

At about 10:30 a.m., high winds and driving rain caused a major outage in Brooklin. Responding to downed wires, firefighters closed the Flye Point, Harriman Point and Naskeag roads. A tree across Reach Road forced motorists to turn around and retreat through town to reach destinations west and east of town.

At about noon, Brooklin firefighter Paul Gallo drove the department’s rescue vehicle down Flye Point Road to investigate a report of a tree that had caught fire after landing on a power line.

As Gallo parked the vehicle, several trees fell behind him, trapping him until fellow firefighters could cut the fallen trees away.

Motorists were trapped at points along Naskeag Road. They parked their cars and walked beyond fallen wires where volunteers picked them up and drove them to their destinations or to shelters set up for residents unable to access their homes because of closed roads. A shelter was set up at the Brooklin fire station and at WoodenBoat Publications.