With the exception of one washout in Buxton, local roads are holding up under the relentless rain that has doused the area in the second wettest May on record.
Buxton Public Works Director Lary Owen said workers installed a larger culvert on Osborne Road after a brook overflowed, closing the road on Monday. Owen said it marked Buxton’s only road closing because of the recent rain, which began last week.
But Owen said Buxton has had a lot of close calls. “We’re in pretty good shape here in Buxton so far,” Owen said Monday night.
In Gorham, Public Works Director Bob Burns said Monday the town hadn’t closed any roads because of flooding. “There’s been a few potholes here and there,” Burns said.
Gorham Town Manager David Cole said Gorham is in good shape compared to other municipalities to the south. “So far, so good,” Cole said, adding that unofficially, Gorham has received seven inches of rain in a week.
Cole said Gorham roads sustained a lot of damage during a big storm in October 1996 when more than 18 inches of rain fell on the town. “We made a lot of improvements coming out of that storm,” Cole said.
Westbrook also has fared well through the recent rain that has stalled over the area. Greg Alexander, a of the Westbrook Public Services department, said Tuesday that no roads had been closed. “We’re doing pretty good,” he said.
Butch Roberts of the National Weather Service in Gray said that this is the second wettest May through the first half of month in the greater Portland area since records were first kept in 1871. Roberts said 9.1 inches of rain had fallen through May 14. He said the record for the same time period was 9.64 inches in 1984.
Roberts said Monday that 2.77 inches fell on Saturday, May 13. He said rain has fallen everyday since May 9. “It never stopped,” he said.
Staff writer Charlie Smith contributed to this story.
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