Historic rainfall in Portland slowed shoppers Wednesday
An historic rainfall in Portland flooded low-lying city streets Wednesday morning, making for a slower shopping day for some retailers on Commercial Street.
By early afternoon, rain had tapered off and shoppers, some from the two cruise ships docked at the waterfront, were back on Commercial Street.
Two cruise ship passengers, Gary and Linda Holland of Huntingdon, Pa., standing outside the Ports of Call gift shop Wednesday afternoon, told Mainebiz that some of the others on their cruise ship stayed in because of the rain.
The 5.63 inches of rain that fell in Portland made Wednesday one of the top 10 rainiest days in the city’s history, the National Weather Service in Gray told the Portland Press Herald.
The cruise ship Norwegian Gem, with nearly 2,400 passengers, according Cruise Portland Maine, canceled its harbor and other area tours because of the rain.
Some cruise ship passengers were transported by bus to Freeport to visit shops there.
Gary Holland, wearing a clear plastic poncho from the cruise ship, said he was unimpressed with their visit to Portland so far because they had to travel by foot to see a lot of things.
“The rainy day didn’t help,” he said.
A few blocks away at home decor retailer Ethan Allen’s Commercial Street location, a commercial vacuum company was cleaning the front of the store because of flooding.
Last August, a rainstorm flooded a third of the floor, damaging the bottom of some furniture, but Wednesday’s flooding covered the front edge of the store, said Lenora Bourgeois, an interior designer for the company. Bourgeois said staff were worried when the water rose above the sandbags in front of the store, but it receded before doing any damage.
Casey Gilbert, executive director of Portland’s Downtown District, said her office heard from a few businesses with flooded basements, but no serious damage from the rain.
Whole Foods Market, at 2 Somerset St. in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood, was surrounded by flood waters and stalled cars, but remained open.
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