CARIBOU, Maine — Fields, roads and houses across the state experienced flooding Tuesday after two days of near constant rain, with National Weather Service officials in Caribou forecasting more to come through Wednesday.
The latest onslaught, after heavy rain over the weekend, had the weather service putting the entire state under some sort of hazardous weather advisory on Tuesday, with much of Maine under flood watches, flood warnings or flash flood warnings.
In Stetson, flood waters caused a section of Wolfboro Road to be closed and a section of Lapoint Road to be reduced to one lane Tuesday night, according to a dispatcher with the Penobscot Regional Communications Center.
“It is still raining heaviest in the north,” meteorologist Paul Fitzsimmons of the weather service’s Caribou office said Tuesday afternoon. “The worst of the system is winding down, but it is not over. Some places could expect another half inch to an inch of rain tonight and into tomorrow.”
While Gov. Paul LePage toured the damage in Brownville, which was hardest hit by storms over the weekend, heavy rain continued to move across northern Penobscot and southern Aroostook counties Tuesday afternoon. Weather service radar estimates showed up to 1.5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours in some of the flood warning areas with periods of heavy rain expected to push rainfall totals up to 3 inches by late Tuesday evening.
Flooded roads were reported in Littleton, Hodgdon and Amity in The County, with minor flooding of ditches and water ponding on roads in other parts of southern Aroostook.
Patten, Shin Pond, Amity and Orient will be the most prone to additional flooding, according to the weather service, with some road washouts possible. These communities also were hit hard with 6 to 8 inches of rainfall over the weekend.
Officials with the Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency said that some roads in the Amity area had received an estimated $15,000 in damage by early Tuesday evening.
The weather service issued a flood warning Tuesday to remain in effect until 9 a.m. Wednesday for urban areas and small streams in north central Penobscot and southeastern Aroostook counties.
A flood warning means that flooding is imminent or already has been reported. A flood watch means there is a potential for flooding based on weather forecasts. A flash flood warning indicates conditions may develop that lead to very swift or sudden flooding. More information and updated forecasts are available at the National Weather Service website www.erh.noaa.gov/er/car/.
Fitzsimmons said Tuesday afternoon that the Hancock County town of Penobscot picked up the most rain during the day at 2.5 inches. Houlton saw just over 2 inches, with 1.76 inches recorded in Bangor.
The town of Ashland had picked up 1.25 inches by 3 p.m., with 1.16 inches recorded in Eagle Lake. Caribou saw .97 inches of rain.
In Aroostook County, flooding was reported on Foxcroft Road in Littleton and on a portion of U.S. Route 1 in Hodgdon.
At this time last year, three tornadoes hit Aroostook County, bringing severe thunderstorms and high winds that downed trees and caused power outages through parts of northern and eastern Maine.
BDN writer Dawn Gagnon contributed to this report.