PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Heavy rain seemed to take the Portland area by surprise Saturday as downpours turned streets into rivers and caused flash floods in some areas.
More than two-thirds of an inch of rain, .67 to be exact, fell at PDX in the 3:00 hour alone and more than 1.50 inches fell in just six hours between 1-6 p.m. As of 10 p.m. Saturday evening, 2.01 inches of rain had fallen at the airport. That is the single wettest day in Portland in nearly four years when 2.35″ fell on November 22, 2011.
KOIN 6 Meteorologist Steve Pierce says even though it was impressive, Saturday’s rainfall was not a record. The record for the date was 2.44 inches on Halloween 1994.
The Portland Streetcar was shutdown because of flooding and TriMet buses and MAX trains were delayed around town, but the worst problems were underneath the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland. Blue and Red line MAX trains couldn’t pass underneath because of high water. A twitter user actually recorded a MAX car being flooded.
The heavy rain also caused the sewer to overflow into the Willamette River. The city recommends avoiding contact with the water for at least 48 hours.
The KOIN 6 Weather team will update the forecast here and you can always stay in touch with the PDX Weather app — everything you need to know at your fingertips.