LAMOINE – Clam flats along the entire coast of Maine, which have been closed since Saturday because of contamination from the deluge of rain, will remain closed at least until after the coming weekend, authorities said Thursday.

“This has to do with sanitary pollution,” said Mercuria Cumbo, microbiologist at the Department of Marine Resources. “The testing that we just recently did showed that there was a lot of

pollution … the results were very high, higher than we normally see after flood closures.”

Human consumption of contaminated clams likely would result in gastrointestinal illness, she said.

Heavy rains predicted for the weekend will extend the contamination closures until the pollution counts go back to normal.