AUGUSTA, Maine—An above-average snowpack lingering from the winter's barrage of storms carries the potential for river flooding, experts said as they also kept a close eye on this weekend's snow and rain forecast throughout northern New England.
While many residents and business owners were still busy removing heavy loads of snow from their roofs to prevent more collapses, officials were urging consumers to make sure their properties were protected with flood insurance.
In Maine, the state Bureau of Insurance said now is the time to evaluate the need for flood insurance, especially with spring approaching and 30-day waiting periods before most new policies take effect.
The advisory was issued as the National Weather Service warned a double-barreled winter storm was headed to New Hampshire and Maine. The first round in the form of snow, freezing rain or rain was expected Friday night, followed by rain in many areas Saturday.
The storm could leave 6 or more inches of snow and sleet across the mountains of northern New Hampshire and western Maine through early Sunday morning.
In New Hampshire, flash flood watches are posted for this weekend, when downpours are predicted in the southern part of the state. The threatened to cause power outages from ice-laden tree limbs and power lines, additional roof collapses, and ponding of water on roads with clogged storm drains especially in coastal areas, the weather service said.
New Hampshire Emergency Management spokesman Jim Van Dongen said the state was not expecting widespread flooding, but was preparing for street flooding and possible basement flooding.
"There's not a lot of places for water to go," he said, with high snowbanks, frozen ground and deep snowcover. "There is a possibility of something more serious, depending on how much rain we get."
Van Dongen said safety officials expect the rain being soaked up by several feet of packed snow will prompt more roof collapses around the state.
As for the coming spring: "There is a significantly higher probability of flooding this year," he said, with more than double the normal snowpack on the ground.
Flooding has already been reported in Vermont, where a foot of water covered the ground in a trailer park in Pownal. A local official says the flooding is due to melting snow and rain, but the trailer park's owner says a natural spring is causing the high water.
The storm comes after a panel of flood watchers on Thursday assessed spring flooding conditions in Maine.
While this winter's near-record snowfall has created a flood potential that is above normal, that doesn't guarantee flooding will occur this spring, said spokeswoman Lynette Miller of the Maine Emergency Management Agency, a member of the River Flow Advisory Commission.
Water content readings across Maine are some of the highest since 1969 when they set records, said Bob Lent of the U.S. Geological Survey and co-chairman of the commission. Flooding doesn't result from melting snow alone, he said.
But the deep snow "elevates the risk of flooding if we have a sudden warm-up, or significant rain in the headwaters of our major rivers," Lent said.
The New Hampshire EMA's Van Dongen said state and local officials have been planning for the thaw for a couple of weeks, checking out snow conditions and making sure supplies, such as sandbags, are in place in the event of flooding.
Problems on the major rivers are not anticipated in the short term, but the National Weather Service says weekend rain could cause some flooding of streets and small streams.
