Flash Flood — Oxford, Maine

2023-06-26 · near Houghton, Oxford, Maine

Event narrative

Flash flooding occurred in Bryon on the morning of the 26th after 3 and 5 inches of rain fell along the south facing slopes of the Wyman Mountain. Garland Pond Road, Dingle Hill Road, #6 Road to Weld, Buckfield Hill Road, Lohnes Farm Road and Route 17 all sustained damage. Garland Pond Road, Dingle HIll Road and #6 Roads were not passable for more than 24 hours.

Wider weather episode

Slow moving showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure moved across western Maine through the night of June 25th and into the morning of June 26th. Showers and thunderstorms repeatedly developed over the hills and mountains surrounding Andover and Byron in Oxford County, The extreme rainfall rates in hilly and mountainous terrain led to rapid run-off on multiple streams in the region. Maine. Localized heavy rain occurred in these areas with considerable flash flooding being reported. Showers and thunderstorms began in the Andover area around 2:30 am on June 26th. The storms intensified and spread across the mountains in the surrounding towns to include Byron and Roxbury. Rainfall rates peaked from 3:30 am to 6:00 am when the bulk of the heavy rainfall fell in the region. The showers and thunderstorms weakened and moved off to the north with just very light rainfall through 8 am before ending. Radar estimated rainfall amounts of 2 to 3' in Bryon and Roxbury with even higher amounts of rain in North Andover. Radar estimated a very localized area of rainfall of up to 6' of rainfall just north of town in mountainous terrain. The bulk of this rainfall occurred in less than 3 hours. The extreme rainfall rates in hilly and mountainous terrain led to rapid run-off on multiple streams in the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.7439, -70.6850)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1113292. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.