Almost five inches fell in the month

The deluge of rain the past two days helped set a record for the wettest March ever in Monroe County.

On Thursday and Friday the Monroe County region measured nearly two inches of rain, leaving many farm fields under water and the River Raisin and county ditches swollen with storm runoff.

That added to the total for the month, which reached 4.99 inches.

That beat 1954’s total of 4.91 inches, which was the previous wettest March on record.

Rainfall amounts during the past two days reported by various weather recorders in Monroe County included 2.1 inches in Milan, 1.94 inches in Newport, 1.81 inches in Monroe and 1.47 inches at the Dundee Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The nearly 5 inches of rain that fell in March was about twice the normal 2.28 inches of precipitation that falls during the month, according to the National Weather Service.