MACHIAS, Maine — A total of 7.92 inches of rain fell on the Machias area in a 24-hour period Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service at Caribou.
“It’s very rare,” said NWS forecaster Priscilla Farrar. Looking back over the records for about the last 10 years, she said the next highest 24-hour rainfall total for Machias was 5.94 inches, recorded in September 2008.
Farrar said another inch of rain fell Wednesday night into Thursday morning, bringing the overall storm total to 8.92 inches.
“I would say sometime between 4 in the morning and 8 or 9 in the morning [Wednesday] was the heaviest,” Farrar said.
The highest rainfall total in Washington County from Wednesday’s storm was recorded at Edmunds, which received 8.5 inches in 24 hours, she said.
“We did get a report of a house struck by lightning in Machias,” said Farrar.
Machias Fire Chief Joey Dennison confirmed a home on High Street had been struck at about 5:29 a.m. Wednesday.
He said firefighters quickly “attacked” the fire, which was inside the home, and were able to save the structure. No one was injured.
Besides the lightning strike, damage was minimal in Machias, town Public Works Director Mike Schoppee, said during a lunch break Thursday.
The storm kept the three-man crew busy over the last couple days, he said.
The worst of the flooding was at the intersection of Court Street and Route 1. The area behind Bluebird Ranch Restaurant was “full” of water Wednesday, he said.
Airport Road was washed out, but his crew fixed the damage Wednesday, he said.
All day Wednesday, public works employees got quite wet while doing their work.
Public works employee Norman Robert said the water was up to the top of his boots at times on Wednesday. When cars would go buy, they would spray water, soaking him and employee Barry Hartford.
“We dried out,” he quipped.
“The raindrops were about the size of a 50-cent piece,” Schoppee said.
Thursday morning, public works crews cleaned gravel off the streets and more rain-related work was scheduled for the afternoon, he said.
Several residents called during the crew’s lunch break to ask for assistance with more storm issues, adding to the workload.
Overall, however, Schoppee said Machias was “lucky” because damage was minor.
Officials from Steuben and Milbridge reported no damage from the storm to roads or infrastructure.
Ted Talbot, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, said state roads in the area were not significantly damaged.
Farrar said no more rain was in the immediate forecast.
“It’s probably going to be a nice weekend,” she said.