A 51-year-old Maine man died Saturday when a large tree limb fell on his vehicle on U.S. Highway 1 in Searsport amid strong wind gusts. It's the first fatality attributed to Storm Lee.
Searsport police say they responded to Route 1 in the area of Prospect Street, just before 9 a.m. and found a large portion of a tree had broken off, landing partially on the roof the man's vehicle, NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine reported.
The tree limb brought down live power lines, and Central Maine Power workers had to shut off the grid before the man could be removed from his vehicle, Police Chief Brian Lunt said.
Life-saving measures were performed, and the local man was taken to an area hospital where he died from his injuries. His name has not been released.
Route 1 was closed while utility and emergency crews responded to the incident, News Center Maine reported.
Maine State Police warned residents Saturday that high winds were resulting in downed trees and asked people to avoid being out on the roads.
"If you must travel, be safe and avoid driving around downed trees or over downed wires and obey road closure signs and barriers," police said in a Facebook post.
Later Saturday, state police shared a photo on Facebook showing a large tree that had gone through the windshield of a passenger van, barely missing the six people inside. Police blamed the high winds and urged people to stay vigilant while traveling Saturday.
Lee brought tropical-storm-force winds, rough surf and torrential rains to a large swath of New England, toppling trees, swamping coastlines and cutting power to tens of thousands.
The storm could drop as much as 5-6 inches of rain on parts of Maine through Saturday night, with the potential for local flooding, forecasters said. Flash flood warnings were issued through 9 p.m. for parts of southeastern Maine, including Hancock and Washington counties.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report
