MILO, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-- April showers could be bringing much more than May flowers. Flood watches and warnings have been issued all over the state as heavy rain is expected in Tuesday night's forecast. Normally when warm weather finally hits, people may think the worst is over, but the ice that builds up in rivers all winter long poses a new threat once spring arrives. Melting ice combined with high levels of rain make for risky flooding conditions.
"He ended up buying the property. We had told him of course that it was prime flood zone. So evidently he wasn't concerned so much about that because he just built it up on timbers," Milo Emergency Management Agency's Manager, Jerry Cole, said of a house next to the river of which the property was completely flooded.
The owner of this house knew the risk of building so close to the Pleasant River. Good thing he was prepared, because the flood did come after all. The locals here know that when Spring comes, they should prepare for flooded lawns and basements.
"For forty nine years, I've been doing it almost every year," said neighboring Brownville resident, Randy Heathe as he stopped to look at the flooded property.
The problem is because of the ice that breaks apart up river when the weather gets warm. The chunks of ice flow down stream until they get caught up in the a curve, building a natural dam. The ice dams that build up next to the Pleasant River Bridge are in a prime flooding area.
"We've also got very shallow water coming down through here and it's wide and level, so it really doesn't take much at all to really flood the whole area. It's been known to go over the road from here to Medford probably in four or five places," Cole said.
Earlier Tuesday morning the roads next to the river flooded with several inches of water before part of the ice dam washed down river, but with the heavy rain expected Tuesday night, even worse flooding could also be in the forecast.
"I think we were fortunate that the ice moved out quite a ways, but with a big rain fall tonight obviously it's just going to send more ice down with the heavy water and we're going to have quite a damn I think," said Cole.
The Milo Emergency Management Agency is already prepared to close roads and route detours around flooded areas. They also advise people not to drive through flooded roads- the water could be much deeper than the driver thinks. Knowing what Wednesday morning might hold has Cole thinking one thing...
"Bring on the summer time!"
