Flash Flood — Franklin, Maine

2023-06-29 · near Farmington, Franklin, Maine

Event narrative

A concentrated area of 3 to 5 inches of rain fell across southern Franklin County during the afternoon of June 29th into the early evening hours. Between 400 pm and 700 pm, a stalled thunderstorm brought 2 to 3 inch per hour rainfall rates which peaked between 430 pm and 600 pm where most of the rain fell. These rains fell across previously saturated soils and hilly terrain. The heaviest rain fell in Jay. An additional 17 roads in surrounding communities of Wilton, Farmington, and Chesterville sustained partially wash-outs or road closures from flooding. In nearby Wilton, ME-156 at Soules Hill Road and Whittier Roads sustained washouts.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon of June 29th, showers and thunderstorms developed across the western Maine Mountains and foothills. While most of these storms moved from southwest to northeast, a few remained stalled over the same location for multiple hours leading to radar estimated rainfall of over 3.5'. With some very localized areas approaching estimated rainfall of up to 5'. Over 2' of this rain occurred in one hour. While two trained weather spotters in Rockwood, Maine, reported 3.45' and 3.72' of rainfall, respectively, there were no trained weather spotters or automated rain gauges near the location of the heaviest rain surrounding Jay. The heavy rain fell in less than 6 hours and led to extensive run-off which caused erosion damage of secondary roads and flooding of primary roads. Numerous road washouts and road closures occurred in Jay and surrounding towns with additional road closures and washouts further to the northeast in Somerset County in the vicinity of Brassua and Moosehead. Considerable flash flood damage occurred in Jay which was the hardest community. Additional flooding was reported in remote areas of Somerset County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.6621, -70.1531)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1112694. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.