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somevelvetmorning t1_j1pzpwl wrote

This is the worst stretch over a couple of years.

The last two winters have been relatively mild by Maine standards.

It makes me wonder how all the people who moved to the state during the pandemic are faring this year.

Maine is not the place to be if you rely upon or are expecting consistent infrastructure - public utilities, internet, social services, government or municipal institutions. Folks tend to be extremely self reliant because they have to be or come here because they want to be.

I’m not casting aspersions one way or the other.

I liken Maine to be a kind of latchkey state. Let yourself in, fix yourself something to eat, and someone will be home later. Maybe.

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Fabulous-Opposite838 t1_j1q4ssf wrote

Nailed it. This is a great place to live, but you better know how to cover your butt if you’re rural. We learned some lessons with this event. It’s all good, everyone safe and sound and the house is ok. We drained our pipes, both baseboards and plumbing. Definitely a learning experience for us. We thought we were ahead of the curve, but the guy installing our whole house generator disappeared around Thanksgiving. Counting on contractors was another valuable lesson. It does look like things are warming up this week, so there’s that.

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Shdwrptr t1_j1q4lry wrote

This may be true in some parts of rural Maine but I’ve lived in Maine for over 30 years and “self reliant” is not a trait I expect from most of my friends and family near Portland nor do we all expect critical infrastructure to be unavailable for long periods of time.

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chickenispork t1_j1q57is wrote

Portland doesn’t count, that’s little Boston.

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Shdwrptr t1_j1q5h8u wrote

It’s not even just Portland, it’s most of Southern Maine. Do you think the people of Westbrook, Cumberland, or Falmouth are mostly self reliant, living off the land type people?

Making the state of Maine seem like some wilderness survivalist utopia is pretty odd to me.

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theora55 t1_j1qukpr wrote

I'm in Windham. I could go a month without power or shopping if I had to. Even in the big Ice Storm, people could get to their wood for the stove. Wood stove would keep my house & pipes warm enough. Everybody should have a battery-operated radio and flashlight, and batteries. It's easy to store some food and water unless you have a big family and a really small home.

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