BELFAST — Beginning Thursday, Dec. 26, Waldo County had the most Central Maine Power customers still without electricity and at the peak of the outages, 77 percent of the county was in the dark and in the cold due to the 2013 Christmas holiday ice storm.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency pegs Waldo County as the hardest hit in the state, and it has the dubious distinction of having the most people in shelters.

Waldo County EMA Director Dale Rowley said Friday that Waldo and Hancock had the highest percent of outages of any county in Maine and as the American Red Cross was preparing to open a shelter Dec. 23, they found it hard to stock up on supplies once people started arriving in numbers.

"With so many power outages in and around Belfast, where we would normally shop for the shelter, we had issues with getting supplies, and then on Christmas Day, nobody was open either," said Rowley.

Rowley said that at most, the shelter at Troy Howard Middle School has been home to 36 people, with a handful of pets, and Thursday night they had 24 people stay overnight.

"There are about a dozen people there today, but I know additional folks are coming over from the hospital to stay so that number is actually higher," said Rowley.

With so much lingering ice damage, power outages and business closures, which has also meant loss of wages for workers, Rowley is in the process of trying to secure individual disaster assistance.

And to do that, he needs to hear from individuals who have sustained losses during the ice storm.

Rowley said that FEMA has two programs when it comes to disaster declarations and disaster aid: public assistance and individual assistance.

"The public assistance we work with quite often, and it comes when towns go looking for funds to repair roads and culverts damaged in storms," said Rowley. "The public assistance is more numbers based, and a community or state needs to hit a threshold of dollars to receive a presidential declaration. For the individual assistance, it's not about the numbers; it's about telling a story, painting a picture of the loss."

Rowley said to paint a picture of the impact, he needs to write a narrative in his request that says so many people lost their homes, had damage to their homes, became sick because of some loss, became unemployed, had a tree fall on their car and/or lost wages.

"There is no dollar figure or number of people, but rather a picture of the impact on people. That's when the government will set in and set up disaster recovery centers and offer a whole bunch of different programs to help people," said Rowley. "It doesn't replace a house, but in some cases it might get someone $25,000 toward a repair or food vouchers to replace food they lost in an outage."

Once the state receives a declaration for individual assistance, if FEMA can't take care of them, Rowley said there are private organizations that will step in and help.

"The state is working on the public assistance piece, so I'm working on the individual assistance piece as it's something I thought we should have," said Rowley.

To get the individual stories, Rowley is reaching out through the media, through town officials and through Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce and its network of contacts within the business community.

The chamber's executive director, Dorothy Havey, sent out an email to all chamber members Friday morning seeking feedback on some basic questions.

"Did your employees suffer a reduction in hours due to the storm?" and "Did your employees lose wages due to the storm, and if so, how many?"

At this juncture, general information on numbers is being sought. Later, Rowley said, if the presidential declaration is received, more detailed information will be sought from individuals seeking relief and help.

Lost business income is not included, and the date range is from Dec. 22 through Dec. 29, and into next week if a business remains closed/impacted at that time.

Havey said the timing of the storm was bad for businesses and last-minute Christmas shoppers, hitting at the peak of the season for holiday shopping.

"Boy, it's been tough. I hesitate to quantify the number of businesses impacted because I don't want to be wrong, but I know that on Monday and Tuesday, the power outage was switching from side of downtown to the other, and then nobody had power," said Havey.

And the problems were not contained to downtown Belfast, as stores on Route 7, Route 3 and across the bridge into Searsport were also impacted by power losses, closing doors and sending workers home.

On a bright note, Havey said the breakfast early Friday morning at Belfast Area High School for those working to restore power was a huge success.

Volunteers showed up in the wee hours of the morning to have breakfast ready by 4 a.m. Havey said the folks at Delvino's and Rollies did a "knock out job" with the cooking.

And when the work crews showed up, they hailed from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine too.

"We all felt like troop greeters, welcoming the workers inside who were like, 'Yay, thanks,'" said Havey. "We were expecting up to 500 people and we got 250 and those 250 we fed were so happy."

Havey said the leftover food was packed up and brought over to the shelter at THMS, with muffins delivered to the city's fire station and public works departments.

"We invited the firefighters to come over for the breakfast, but they couldn't leave the station so we brought it to them," said Havey. "We had 75 to 100 volunteers show up to work, and they did everything form washing the dishes and sweeping the floor to pouring coffee and serving food, they just did whatever needed to be done."

Havey said also that the federal disaster declaration that Rowley is working on could be a real help for those hit the hardest by the storm.

"If the impact is big enough, there might be some financial considerations for the employees that couldn't go to work and that would really help this time of year," said Havey.

In addition to reaching out to the media and the Chamber of Commerce, Rowley said he is planning to meet with town managers Monday about the narrative he is compiling.

"I am going to meet with them not only to see what information can be gathered from them, but to help them learn how this works," said Rowley.

Rowley is urging residents to call 211 and report any type of damage they sustained, from plumbing issues to a tree on a car. Calls can also be made to the Waldo County EMA office at 338-3870.

"I would prefer they call 211 first, so we don't get overwhelmed here, and they can call their town office too, however they can do it, just so long as they do," said Rowley.

Rowley also wanted to remind people that making this initial call would not result in a check or voucher being sent to them. The process is that Rowley needs to compile the information and submit as a request for a declaration. If the declaration is granted, then FEMA will set up a disaster recovery center in Waldo County and that's when individuals can file claims for funds.

"But we don't get to that point until we build a case," said Rowley.

In addition to providing loss information, Rowley said that residents can help the shelter out by offering to provide transportation back home for those whose power has been restored.

And if someone is aware that a neighbor has gone to the shelter, and that their power has been restored in their absence, alerting them to the news would be helpful.

"If anybody knows someone in the shelter, and they know there power is back on, maybe help clean out their driveway so we can get them back into their homes. Or transport them, and stay with them until they feel comfortable being back in their home alone, since most of those in the shelter are elderly," said Rowley. "We are also trying to get someone from DHHS to come and work with those in the shelter to get them food, which they might have lost while away, and to make repairs to get them back living at home safely. I know one resident at the shelter lost his furnace when the power came back on, and he can't go back home until that gets fixed."

If you are unsure if a neighbor is at the shelter in Belfast, and you know the name of the individual, you can call the shelter at 338-3320 Ext. 132, and inquire and get a message to them about your willingness to help or that their power is back on.

For those needing to go to shelter, call 338-3870. Transportation can be provided and pets are welcome. Cots, blankets, water and food are provided. Bring a pillow, clothes and medications.

Related stories:

• Waldo County EMA director seeking individual ice storm impacts for disaster declaration application
• Snow-packed Waldoboro driveway hinders firefighters' attempt to save home
• Red Cross provides comfort, cots to those in need
• UPDATED: CMP crews restore power to more than 100,000 customers as ice storm recovery continues
• Snow in the forecast: Iced-up Midcoast to get the most
• Christmas Eve fire destroys garage at Lincolnville home
• Central Maine Power issues power restoration update, 7 p.m., Christmas Eve
• Storm damage lingers with extensive power outages; Waldo and Knox county shelters, warming centers open
• UPDATE: Belfast, Lincolnville called to help battle overnight house fire in Northport
• UPDATE - Fire heavily damages Union home; family says cat knocked over a candle
• Waldo County EMA, Red Cross shelter open at Troy Howard Middle School
• UPDATED - Storm closings and cancellations; Ice storm warning extended to 7 p.m.
• UPDATED: Lincolnville bearing brunt of power outage, trees falling onto wires, into roads
• It's icy out there, be careful
• UPDATED: Ice storm warning - Freezing rain on snow, make way for a big mess

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.