GRAY (AP) — Crews will assess damages to roads and bridges following a storm that dumped more than 8 inches of rain across parts of Maine, closing roads and bridges

Scattered showers are expected to fall for a few more days, but the National Weather Service said the worst of the deluge was over Monday.

Heavy rains, which began Saturday, caused numerous roads and bridges to be closed and resulted in minor flooding when the Presumpscot, Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers overflowed their banks.

In Mechanic Falls, the fire department used a rescue boat to retrieve a woman, her 2-year-old daughter and a dog and cat from a home after the driveway flooded, leaving the house surrounded by water.

The overall damages appear to be relatively minor given the amount of rain that fell, with some pavement letting go and minor erosion, transportation officials said.

But a full accounting won’t be known until waters recede and local and state crews can assess damages in the coming days, said Maine Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lynette Miller.

“It certainly could have been much worse,” Miller said. “What we’re hoping is there won’t be a lot of damage once the water goes down.”

The state transportation department closed more than half a dozen low-lying bridges as a precaution, while numerous roads across central and southern Maine were closed or made impassable because of high water.

More than 8 inches of rain fell in Bridgton, Auburn and Bath during the storm, with more than 7 inches recorded in Portland and surrounding communities, Brunswick and other mid-coast towns. Lesser amounts fell elsewhere in the state.

That’s an extraordinary amount of rain to fall in a single storm, National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Brown said. The Portland total was more than double what the city usually gets for all of June.

“It’s almost like getting the entire summer’s rain in a couple of days,” he said.

 

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