New England coastal residents clean up after remnants of Hurricane Noel hits region

BOSTON (AP) - Several thousand coastal residents from Massachusetts to Maine faced a second night without power Sunday, and at least two house fires were indirectly blamed on the remnants of Hurricane Noel.

The storm struck New England with just a glancing blow Saturday, bringing down tree limbs and knocking out power to 80,000 homes. State officials reported no serious injuries or deaths. By late Sunday afternoon, NStar said 17,000 customers remained without power.

"Crews are facing extensive damage to trees and electric equipment," NStar spokeswoman Caroline Allen said in a statement. The company expected to restore power to all its customers by Monday, she said.

No evacuations, deaths or serious injuries were linked to the storm in the region, said Peter Judge of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The state's only serious flooding was on Brandt Point on Nantucket, where roads were closed for a few hours, he said.

Earlier, Noel was blamed for at least 57 deaths in Haiti, 84 in the Dominican Republic and one each in the Bahamas and Jamaica, making it the deadliest storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Thousands were homeless because of catastrophic flooding on the islands and extensive damage was reported in Cuba.

A candle used because of the blackout was the likely cause of a fire that damaged a Barnstable house, said Lt. Richard Scherbarth of the Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills Fire Department. The family of five escaped uninjured, but a dog and cat died.

Yarmouth fire officials said a house fire on Sunday was indirectly caused by the storm. Capt. Allen Bent said the occupant used the fireplace to keep warm during a power outage and that ashes dumped behind the house set it ablaze.

Most of the power outages were on Cape Cod, along with a handful in the areas of Plymouth and Marshfield.

Nearly 9,000 customers were without power Sunday morning in eastern Maine, Bangor Hydro Electric reported. Central Maine Power Co. also reported outages, and said it might send crews to Canada to help repair storm outages in Nova Scotia.

The storm dropped more than 5 inches of rain on parts of Maine, with 6 inches of snow in the northern end of the state.