Record-Setting Rainfall?

Local weatherman suspects the rainfall that came in 15-minute spurts early this morning set a record.

Radar imagery from 6 am shows an intense purple area parked above Swampscott.

The town received 5.6 inches of rain since 11 pm last night but most of the rain fell in a 45-minute span, he said in an email.

"These are incredible #s," he said.  "Most of the rain happened in 45 minutes,  2 of those 15-minute periods had 1.1 (inches). That's the equivalent of 4.4" per hour, unheard of around here.  To give context, a hurricane up this way dumps 5 to 8" of rain - but over a several hour period, not 45 minutes.  I suspect this is a  new record of some sort for this area."

George, who has up-to-the-minute weather data at his house, lives on a hill overlooking Fisherman's Beach but, still, his basement flooded from the intense rainfall.