Wild weather floods areas of Bangor

BANGOR – While wind-driven rain and high tides caused minor flooding in parts of the city’s downtown Tuesday morning, snow blanketed extreme northern Maine, causing a spate of fender benders. High winds also caused scattered power outages in eastern and central Maine later in the day.

The fast-rising ice-filled waters of the Kenduskeag Stream and Penobscot River had motorists in a few downtown parking lots wading through knee-deep water to retrieve their stranded cars.

As she does every morning, Lois Dvorak of Old Town on Tuesday parked her car on the ground floor of the city’s State Street parking

lot before heading to work.

Just hours later, she watched a tow truck pull the 1995 Subaru Outback from the flooded lot behind Joe’s Pizza and the Briar Patch. Dvorak, a counselor, grimaced as water poured from the car doors.

“You usually think of floods as coming in the spring or fall,” she said as the truck towed her waterlogged car onto Central Street. “I guess I wasn’t expecting a flood at this time of year.”

Nobody on this downtown block was, as there were several soggy cars in the low-lying area Tuesday morning.

“When I came to work at 9 [a.m.] it was just raining and there were little puddles in the lot,” said Gibran Graham, who works at Top Shelf Coins, Comics and Cards on Central Street.

Less than an hour later, when a neighboring business owner came in the shop to alert anyone who may have parked in the back lot, Graham said he was in disbelief.

“When I got out there it was up to the middle of my hubcaps,” said Graham, who was able to start his 1993 Subaru Impreza, which shortly thereafter stalled on Main Street.

Bangor Fire Department officials, expecting even higher tides during the next 24 hours, blocked off the alleyway leading to a small private lot off Central Street as well as the ground floor of the State Street lot.

Crews from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and Dead River were called to the scene to check on transformers and propane tanks near the area, Assistant Fire Chief Vance Tripp said.

Bangor Public Works crews also responded in an effort to temporarily repair a damaged retaining wall that some say allowed the water to pour into the parking lots.

City Engineer James Ring said a cursory look at the deeds suggest that the wall is privately owned, although city staff will continue to review the issue. Meanwhile, city crews will place sandbags in the 3-foot-by-3 foot opening at the top of the concrete wall in an effort to prevent further flooding, he said.

The area has flooded several times in past years, Ring said, noting that storm basins in the floor and wall also allow water in during an unusually high tide.

On the Penobscot riverfront, the parking lot behind the Sea Dog Brewing Co. and a neighboring park disappeared under several inches of water at Tuesday’s high tide.

While Bangor dried out as the tide retreated later in the day, parts of Aroostook County dug out from up to 8 inches of snow.

Between 6 and 8 inches of snow fell in the St. John Valley during the morning Tuesday. Except for a few sprinkles of rain at midday, most of the precipitation fell as snow, at times big thick flakes which accumulated quickly.

Roads were slippery in the wet snow, but accidents were minor in nature. None of the police departments in the St. John Valley reported any personal injury accidents.

Traffic moved slower but continually. Minor problems were reported on Route 11 south of Fort Kent. At one point a tractor-trailer and several cars could not maneuver Pinette Hill, about three miles from Fort Kent. Sand trucks made the area passable.

Snow removal crews were out early through the area, most still out on the roads in early afternoon.

More snow was predicted for Tuesday night. Temperatures were also to turn colder than the low 30s at about noontime.

Most activities went on as scheduled. Some schools, especially afternoon kindergarten classes, were canceled in some districts. Night classes were canceled at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

High winds caused a number of power outages throughout the state Tuesday afternoon and evening, with crews from both Bangor Hydro and Central Maine Power Co. working to fix the outages. Bangor Hydro reported about 200 mostly coastal customers without power, while CMP crews worked to restore power to about 2,000 customers in southern and western Maine.

NEWS reporter Beurmond Banville contributed to this story.