A flood warning was in effect through Thursday morning in Westbrook, where the churning Presumpscot River awed onlookers.

“This is the most powerful I’ve ever seen it,” Roland Gagne said Wednesday as he took pictures of the rapids.

Wednesday morning, the Presumpscot rose above 15 feet, which is considered flood stage.

“They expected it to go up a little bit and down throughout the day,” said Ann Marie Brett, deputy director of Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency in Windham. She added that she didn’t expect evacuations.

Jean Miller said when she saw on television that the river had reached flood stage, she decided, like she usually does, to take a drive to Westbrook from her home on Warren Avenue in Portland.

“Never ever have I ever seen it like this,” she said, looking onto Saccarappa Falls.

Though for some the flooding is a spectacle, for others it means more work.

Arty Ledoux, deputy director of the city’s Public Services Department, said every time the department refills a pothole, the rain washes it out.

“That’s a daily battle for us right now,” he said.

In addition, Ledoux said, during the past week his employees have dealt with flooding due to storm drains clogged with debris, but it’s been isolated to certain streets.

He said the biggest concern of his department is erosion on the sides of roads, which can lead to rain washing out material underneath the roads, causing real problems.

Ledoux said public services workers have had to fill in the sides of roads in some places, but it’s been manageable.

“We’re just keeping an eye on the river,” he said.

Meteorologist John Jensenius, of the National Weather Service in Gray, said Wednesday’s downpour could mark the end of the long stretch of rainy weather the area has seen during the past month.

He said in June the Portland area experienced 8.6 inches of rain – more than 5 inches higher than average for the month. Between noon Tuesday and noon Wednesday, he said, he heard reports that up to 2.5 inches of rain had fallen.

But after this last deluge, he said, more typical weather patterns are expected. He said the weather should dry out at some point Thursday and there would be no rain until Saturday evening. He said it should dry out again on Sunday.

Roland Gagne takes pictures of Saccarappa Falls Wednesday morning, when the Presumpscot River rose to flood stage.