Portland

Powerful storm surges, coinciding with the monthly astronomical high tide, are flooding low-lying streets in Portland and other coastal communities.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency and other state agencies were working with local safety officials on cleanup and recovery.

State scientists are testing the water for a toxic blue-green algae bloom at Twin Brook after tests showed 2 dogs had algae-related toxicity after swimming there Aug. 21.

Eight counties on the coast have gone from moderate to severe drought status since last week, according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, almost one-third of the state remains in moderate drought, and wells across the state are beginning to run dry.

The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.

Updated and more accurate federal maps put a cluster of homes near Capisic Brook in a zone that faces once-in-a-century risks.

The city had 9.53 inches of rain last month, surpassed only by the 10.84 inches that fell in July 1915.

Climate change is keeping temperatures higher in the fall, setting up browntail-moth caterpillars to boom in summer. Their hairs are barbed and hollow and there’s a reservoir of a toxin inside.

The black substance was staining the feet of people at the beach, prompting one local resident to alert state officials.

A recent spate of attacks on humans and pets by foxes in Topsham may be in part due to a new strain of rabies. As of April 18, there have been five such attacks in Topsham this year. State Veterinarian Michele Walsh theorizes a rabies strain more associated with raccoons has begun infecting gray foxes.

A potent storm system hit Maine on Monday with heavy rain and wind gusts close to 60 mph that caused more than 100,000 power outages. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the state lost power Monday night as the wind brought branches down on power lines. There were multiple reports of trees falling into roads in Lisbon, Durham, Bath, Woolwich and Bar Harbor, among other places.

Exterminators are fielding more calls about rodent activity. Rat-related calls are up 20 percent from last year; include mice and calls are up 57 percent.

Julie Dimperio Holowach, a recently retired fashion executive from New York City, was swimming near Bailey Island on Monday afternoon when she was attacked.

Temperatures are expected to remain above 80 degrees for the rest of the week.

A large lion's mane jellyfish was found on the shore on Peaks Island, Maine, over the weekend that measured in at a whopping five feet.

Brunswick schools are closed today and CMP crews are out 'in full force' after Thursday's brief but intense thunderstorm.

Temperatures in southern Maine topped 90 degrees Tuesday and are expected to do the same Wednesday, prompting school officials to dismiss students early and cancel sports practices, and sending people flocking to beaches.

Many of the dead seals that washed ashore in northern New England in the past few weeks tested positive for either avian influenza or phocine distemper virus, but it is still too soon to say if those viruses are the primary causes of the unusual die-off.

Preliminary results suggest that avian flu and/or phocine distemper virus may be contributing to the elevated seal strandings in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts since June 1, 2018.

Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.