Flash Flood — Cumberland, Maine

2024-03-10 · near Pownal, Cumberland, Maine

Event narrative

Heavy rainfall caused a full washout on Dougherty Road in New Gloucester. Rainfall was estimated around 3 inches with rates up to an inch an hour. The rain fell over saturated and partially frozen ground which supported rapid runoff.

Wider weather episode

A multifaceted storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to the coast, and heavy snow to the mountains on March 10th. A period of heavy rain between daybreak and noon caused excessive runoff and flash flooding in parts of Cumberland County where rainfall totals exceeded 3 inches. Elsewhere, the rain and snowmelt combination resulted in minor river flooding and nuisance overland standing water. Gale force easterly winds accompanied the low with the strongest winds occurring before high tide. The resultant storm tide reached 13.32 feet. This represented the eighth highest storm tide on record in Portland Harbor (1912 to present) and the third top ten storm tides for the year. High astronomical tides combined with strong onshore flow and storm surge to bring mostly minor coastal flooding to the Maine coast along with some localized areas of moderate flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.9151, -70.2428)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1155430. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.