Weekend downpour sets records

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Rainfall records have fallen like roof runoff around Maine the past three days, with some towns reporting more than 9 inches – mostly within 36 hours.

By all measures, Monday was gentler than Sunday, but communities around the state were still dealing with standing water in roads, yards and basements, officials said.

“Not too bad on the roads, but a lot of flooded basements,” Waldo County Communications Center dispatcher Arthur Butler said Monday. “It’s been a mess.”

Joseph Hewitt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Caribou, said Deer Isle reported 9.5 inches in the 36 hours ending at 10 a.m. Monday.

Asked which part of Maine absorbed the most rain, Hewitt said, “I think Deer Isle was the winner.” Gouldsboro, also in Hancock County, reported 9.37 inches in the same period.

Down East, Cutler reported 9.05 inches in the 48 hours ending at 10 a.m. Monday, “with the bulk of that in 36 hours,” Hewitt said.

By 10 a.m. Monday, Bangor had registered 6.81 inches during the long weekend, Lubec had reported 7.81 inches, and Caribou had reported 2.18 inches in the same period.

Hewitt said some of the records break out this way:

. Bangor reported 2.68 inches Sunday, a 24-hour record for Oct. 9. The record had been 1.43 inches in 1976.

. Millinocket reported 1.69 inches Saturday, a 24-hour record for Oct. 8. The record had been 1.56 inches in 1979.

. Caribou reported 1.39 inches on Friday, a 24-hour record for Oct. 7. The record had been 1.07 inches in 1972.

The weekend’s heavy rainfall was widespread.

By 8 p.m. Sunday, Augusta in Kennebec County had reported 8.1 inches in the previous 48 hours; Camden in midcoast Maine had reported 8.8 inches in the same period; and Down East Baileyville reported 5.52 inches through 10 a.m. Monday.

. In Somerset County: Maine State Police Acting Sgt. Christopher Carr said at least two cars slipped off Route 23 in Canaan late Sunday, without injuries to the drivers.

A car on St. Albans Road in Palmyra had driven into water that submerged the vehicle. It could still be seen Monday morning, floating upside down in the water alongside the road. The driver suffered minor injuries.

. In Waldo County: Jethro Pease, acting director of emergency management, said the high water undermined a number of roads, but that flooding was minimal. “There were no dam problems, though there was a lot of water coming over them, and no problems with bridges. We only had a few roads closed and others that were cut to one lane. We really didn’t do too bad,” Pease said.

. In Knox County: Camden crews worked through the weekend to keep the High Street section of U.S. Route 1 from washing into Camden Harbor.

The half-mile stretch, which descends to the downtown, is being excavated for installation of underground sewer and water lines, but the runoff flooded the exposed roadway.

As mud rushed downhill and threatened to undermine the paved portion of the street, workers with heavy equipment spent much of the weekend building makeshift berms of crushed rock and gravel that managed to channel the water into a nearby brook.

“It was bad but it’s all cleaned up now,” Camden police dispatcher Diane Moody said Monday. “The road’s a mess. It’s got a lot of new speed bumps.”

In Rockport, the Goose River turned the fairways and greens of the low-lying Goose River Golf Club into a lake. The water receded slowly Monday, but parts of the course remained underwater.

. In Washington County: Route 1A in Milbridge was closed Sunday night at a point where water covered the road heading for Harrington. Road crews had the road opened by midmorning Monday.

. In Penobscot County: Roads in Bangor were drier by Monday evening and all streets were open, according to Eric Archer of Bangor Public Works.

A few flood-prone roads in the Old Town area remained closed Monday afternoon, but there were no major water-related problems in the city, said Lt. Mark Graffam of the Old Town Fire Department.

Portions of Kirkland Road and College Avenue were blocked off, and the Witter Farm Road remained closed. In addition, bridge traffic from Old Town to Milford was reduced to one lane because of construction and wet weather.

Tannery Road in Alton was blocked in its low-lying middle portion, although both ends were accessible from Bennoch Road and Route 43.

. In far northern Maine: The St. John Valley saw a drizzle begin by midafternoon Monday. It had not rained in the area since early Saturday.

The weekend flooding forced the closing of a condominium complex in Bath, and some residents of an Augusta apartment complex were forced from their homes when water from a flooded parking lot spilled in.

Early Sunday, a 21-year-old Scarborough man was killed when his car went off the northbound lane of Interstate 95. Police said a combination of speed and heavy rain led to the accident that claimed the life of Thyrak Ann. A passenger was hurt.

On Saturday, Norman White, 31, of Biddeford and Anthony Mazza, 56, of Burlington, Vt., died when the car in which they were riding was hit by a tow truck on Route 5 in Dayton. The tow truck glanced off a sport utility vehicle and hit the sedan carrying White and Mazza, which then spun off and hit a pickup truck. A passenger in the sedan was in critical condition Monday at a Portland hospital.

More than 5,000 residential and commercial electric customers were without service during peak outages caused by the storm Sunday, Central Maine Power Co. said. The Brunswick and Rockland areas were among the hardest hit.

BDN writers Aimee Dolloff, Sharon Kiley Mack, Leanne M. Robicheau, Beurmond Banville and Katherine Cassidy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.