Name: Coastal Flood in Maine, February 26, 2010
Start: 2010-02-26T07:00
End: 2010-02-26T09:00
Location: Maine

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $7,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GYX wrote it up.

An intense storm was slowly weakening over southern New England on the morning of February 26th. Long period swells were slow to subside and some minor flooding occurred in Portland and Saco at the time of high tide. In Saco, flooding shut down Water and Surf streets. In Portland Harbor an astronomical high tide of 10.47 ft. combined with a storm surge of 1.92 ft. for a storm tide of 12.12 ft.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Gray, ME wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 26, 6:14 AM EST, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 26, 6:14 AM EST, 46 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 26, 6:03 AM EST, 57 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 26, 1:14 AM EST, 5 hours 46 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
114 AM EST FRI FEB 26 2010

NHZ003>006-009-260915-
NORTHERN GRAFTON-NORTHERN CARROLL-SOUTHERN GRAFTON-
SOUTHERN CARROLL-BELKNAP-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LITTLETON...NORTH CONWAY...LEBANON...
HANOVER...PLYMOUTH...WOLFEBORO...OSSIPEE...LACONIA...MEREDITH
114 AM EST FRI FEB 26 2010

...A NEW BAND OF HEAVY RAINFALL CONTAINING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS
WILL RACE ACROSS CENTRAL NEW HAMPSHIRE...

A BAND OF HEAVY RAIN WILL MOVE QUICKLY ACROSS CENTRAL NEW
HAMPSHIRE BETWEEN 130 AM AND 230 AM. WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO GUST
OVER 55 MPH IN THIS BAND WHICH WILL DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES. A
QUICK HALF INCH OR MORE RAINFALL WILL ACCUMULATE IN AN HOURS TIME.

SOME OF THE TOWNS AFFECTED BY THE BAND OF HEAVY SHOWERS INCLUDE
CONWAY...MOULTONBOROUGH ALTON AND FRANKLIN.

JC

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 coastal flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Coastal Flood, Coastal Cumberland

When: February 26, 7:00 AM EST to 9:00 AM EST
Where: Coastal Cumberland forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 43.806, -70.330 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

An intense storm was slowly weakening over southern New England on the morning of February 26th. Long period swells were slow to subside and some minor flooding occurred in Portland at the time of high tide. In Portland Harbor an astronomical high tide of 10.47 ft. combined with a storm surge of 1.92 ft. for a storm tide of 12.12 ft.

Coastal Flood, Coastal York

When: February 26, 7:00 AM EST to 9:00 AM EST
Where: Coastal York forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 43.429, -70.670 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

An intense storm was slowly weakening over southern New England on the morning of February 26th. Long period swells were slow to subside and some minor flooding occurred in Saco at the time of high tide shutting down Water and Surf streets.

What these are

Coastal Flood: Flooding of coastal land by the sea, from storm surge, onshore wind or high tides.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Maine in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Maine, February 2010

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 215360, 215362.