TL;DR
Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine, is closed until December 20 due to severe weather and flash flooding from a storm affecting the Northeast since Monday. The storm, characterised by wind gusts up to 132 mph and heavy rainfall, has caused significant infrastructure damage and led to widespread ski resort closures in the region. Parts of the Northeast are facing intense flooding and power outages, with over 400,000 customers in Maine and 250,000 in Massachusetts affected. Flood warnings continue across New England, and the aftermath of the storm will become clearer as conditions improve.
Sunday River Resort, located in Newry, Maine, has announced it will be closed until Wednesday, December 20, due to the impact of a severe storm that has been affecting the Northeast. This storm has brought about extreme weather conditions, including flash flooding. Starting from Monday, the New England area has experienced strong wind gusts reaching up to 132 mph, along with significant rainfall. This has led to widespread damage to infrastructure, resulting in the shutdown of numerous ski resorts in the region. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AccuWeather (@accuweather) Sunday River wrote in its mountain report this morning, December 19:We are still actively assessing the resort and will provide our next update at 1pm on December 20th. We will automatically refund any guest with lift tickets, lessons and rentals valid December 18, 19, and 20. Thank you for your patience, please allow 7-10 days as processing time may be longer than usual due to high volume.Due to damage caused by yesterday’s storm, ski operations at Sunday River Resort will be closed December 19 and 20.We are actively assessing roads, trails, and systems in the aftermath of five inches of rain received in a short period of time.Ski operations will be reopened as quickly as possible and snowmaking will resume once necessary repairs are made.We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work through this. Updates will be shared through our daily Mountain Report.– Team Snow The adverse weather conditions have necessitated the closure of several ski resorts across the Northeast beginning Monday. The ski areas that were open on Monday had to cease operations prematurely owing to the strong winds. The region is also grappling with severe flooding, with some areas receiving more than six inches of rain within a 24-hour period. This has caused widespread power outages. As reported by poweroutage.us, approximately 400,000 customers in Maine and around 250,000 in Massachusetts are without electricity. Both Gregg Falls Dam and Kelley’s Falls Dam are currently discharging water to mitigate the high water levels resulting from the excessive rainfall. Flood warnings are in place in numerous New England areas until Tuesday. Once the rainfall subsides, the full extent of the damage caused by the storm will become more evident throughout the region.
About the author
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
