WATERVILLE — About 10 cars probably were ruined Saturday after a rainstorm caused unexpected flooding in parts of the city and elsewhere.

The area around Drummond Avenue, which is just off of College Avenue, was hit worst after unseasonably warm weather melted snow piles and rain caused heavy flooding.

Mike Palmer, the owner of Ace Tire and Service on Drummond Avenue, said the Fire Department called him around 6:45 a.m. Saturday to tell him his business was basically submerged. By 1 p.m. virtually all of the water was gone, but he said at least 10 of the 20 cars he has at the business potentially were ruined.

“It was pretty bad,” he said. “There was a couple of a feet of water.”

He said the water there was so high that benches in a park across the street were almost covered.

Palmer and his crew still were working to get the water out of the business Saturday afternoon, and he said the basement still had a lot of water left in it. He said the drains on the street were clogged, so they had to work to free those to drain the water on the street. Thankfully, he said, the affected vehicles on the property were all part of his sales inventory, not customer cars. More cars are parked behind the business.

Flooding occurred in the Augusta area as well, but it seemed to be less severe.

Elsewhere in Waterville, others, like Palmer, were dealing with the flooding’s aftermath. Waterville fire Capt. John Gromek said the fire station had dealt with about 10 flooded basements all across the city. Gromek said in most cases, those affected were getting about a foot or less of water, but some had as much as 3 or 4 feet of water.

“That’s all we’ve been doing is chasing flooded basements,” he said.

Gromek said part of Trafton Road, in the southern end of the city, was shut down earlier in the day because of flooding. He said the department also assumes that many more cases of flooded basements exist but simply hadn’t been reported yet. He advised residents to make sure they have pumps ready to get water out of their basements, but also cautioned against going into the water if power lines are present.

“It’s not regular,” Gromek said of this type of flooding in January. “It takes a rainstorm like this.”

Around Augusta, there weren’t nearly as many reports of flooding. Lt. Chris Behr said Augusta Police Department received no such reports, but several vehicles were towed from a Front Street parking lot in the early afternoon.

Hallowell Fire Chief Jim Owens said firefighters pumped out a couple of flooded basements in that city. and there was minor flooding in a parking lot on Litchfield Road near Burt’s Security.

Staff writer Jason Pafundi contributed to this report.

Colin Ellis — 861-9253

cellis@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @colinoellis

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