Feb. 23, 2009: A brief but intense storm dumps heavy, wet snow across much of Maine, knocking out electrical power to about 130,000 Central Maine Power Co. customers.

The storm hits the Brunswick area particularly hard, prompting Gov. John Baldacci to go there to see the damage firsthand. By that evening, more than half of those who lose power still don’t have it back.

The storm causes the third massive power loss within three months in the CMP service area. A storm that hit around Thanksgiving in 2008 darkened about 35,000 homes, and more than 220,000 customers lost electricity in a Dec. 12 ice storm that inflicted a blackout on about 1.5 million homes throughout the Northeast.

Joseph Owen is a retired copy desk chief of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.