AUBURN – Record rainfall over the weekend had weather watchers monitoring Maine’s streams and rivers late Sunday.
In Auburn, the Androscoggin River reached 11.3 feet at 5 p.m., and the National Weather Service expected it to continue rising through the night.
“It should crest (at 13 feet) by Monday morning,” said John Cannon, a meteorologist at the Weather Service office in Gray.
Unlike other parts of New England, however, any flooding along the river and in other parts of Maine is expected to be minor.
“We’re not looking at anything substantial,” Cannon said.
The weekend storms dumped nearly 4 inches of rain in most of central and western Maine. Southern Maine was hit harder with most towns receiving 5 to 6 inches.
According to the Weather Service, the downpours resulted in Portland’s eighth biggest rainstorm since 1871 when the Weather Service started keeping records.
Police throughout the tri-county area said the heavy rainfall didn’t seem to be causing too many problems. No major roads had to be closed down, and any power outages were temporary.
Given the heavy rainfall, a spokesman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency concluded that Maine had appeared to “dodge a major bullet,” especially compared to the flooding and storm damage in several towns throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
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