PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — While some waterways in Aroostook County are still frozen enough to drive a snowmobile over, it won’t be long before spring’s thaw and the potential for floods.
“We’re slightly above normal for potential for flooding, but not a whole lot above normal,” said Darren Woods, director of the Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency.
Members of the Aroostook EMA recently met with officials in flood-prone municipalities and representatives of the National Weather Service to discuss this spring’s flooding outlook and prepare for responding to any potential flooding.
According to the NWS, the water quantity in the snowpack is above average for mid-March across much of interior Maine and current river levels are near average to slightly above average. In much of Aroostook County, the level of water in the snow is currently between 8 inches and 11 inches in snow that’s three feet or more deep.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that if the weather patterns work in our favor, we should not have an extremely eventful ice out season,” Woods said in an interview on the first day of spring.
“All of that is really going to depend on the weather pattern. We’re hoping for warm thawing days, and nice cold freezing nights, for a slow progression of melting away the ice and snow without overwhelming rivers, streams and rainwater systems,” Woods said.
“We always hope we’re not going to have a very wet spring. Ten years ago 13 communities flooded in the county. A big factor in that was rainfall.”
In 2008, 2-4 inches of rain between April 28 and May 1 combined with snowmelt runoff to create what was later named a one in 400-year flood for the St. John River. The river in Fort Kent peaked at 30 feet, five above flood stage and several inches below the top of an earthen dike protecting downtown Fort Kent.
Flooding led to evacuations for some 1,000 people in Aroostook and Penobscot counties, damage to more than 100 homes, and the awarding of $5 million in federal disaster assistance to the two counties.
“We did not expect what happened in 2008,” Woods said. The ice went out and things were looking really good and then we had a short period of heavy rain.”
In 1994, Fort Fairfield suffered extensive flooding from the Aroostook River, prompting the construction of a dike along downtown in 1999. In years since, ice jams have still occurred at the Route 1A bridge and caused flooding of some roads.
Woods said that that people should be proactive if they live in flood-prone areas.
“If you you need flood insurance, you need to get that now if you don’t have it. There’s a 30 day wait before it’s effective.”
People also can follow the Aroostook County Flood Watch page on Facebook and share their observations on local water bodies.
“We rely on the public providing us information as much as they rely on us,” Woods said.
Municipalities also are trying to be proactive about infrastructure to address flooding.
In Washburn, the town is applying for a $1 million grant from the Maine Community Development Block Grant program to replace a 70-year-old stormwater drainage catchment system, said town manager Donna Turner.
Portions of residential streets and Main Street around downtown Washburn often see some flooding during spring melts, Turner said. “It runs across people’s lawns, it floods homes. Virtually every spring it happens. Some springs are just a whole lot worse than others.”
“The drainage system we have in place is not enough to handle it. “It’s outdated,” Turner said. “We’re looking at putting in a retaining sediment pond to hold these waters to slow down the drainage and let it filter.”
The town has made it through of the first round of the application process and is submitting a final application by March 30, with decisions expected by July, Turner said.
“It’s a big project. It’s something that’s long overdue. We can’t possibly do it on our own through tax funds.”
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- A confluence of floodwater from the St. John River and Fish River inundated downtown Fort Kent in April 2008. (BDN file photo)
