New England, eastern Canada hunker down as Hurricane Lee’s high winds, rains, waves approach

By DAVID SHARP, ROBERT F. BUTAKY and PATRICK WHITTLE
Associated Press

BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — New England harbors and fishing villages are being emptied of boats as the region prepares for Hurricane Lee. The water-logged region is getting ready for tropical storm-force wind gusts that will span an area more than 400 miles (643 kilometers) wide. That’s concerning because the ground is waterlogged, and Maine is the nation’s most heavily forested state, raising worries of widespread power outages. The storm remained a hurricane Friday afternoon with 80 mph (128 kph) winds, and a tropical storm warning extended from Maine through Massachusetts, with powerful gusts forecast to arrive late Friday in southern New England. Maine and coastal Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were to see the brunt of the storm’s remnants on Saturday.