FARMINGTON – University officials are exploring alternative parking places for students now that they’ve closed the lot off Front Street.

The Prescott Field lot at the University of Maine at Farmington won’t be used for the rest of this semester, winter or the spring session, spokesman Tom Donaghue said.

“We’re going to look at what, if anything, we’ll use it for in the future,” he said.

The closure came after 39 students’ vehicles were stranded in the flooded Front Street lot after an ice jam caused the Sandy River to rise quickly over its banks in Farmington on Friday.

Most of the students whose vehicles were in the flood, along with some and staff members, met with insurance representative Ed Nobles from the University of Maine System Tuesday, Donaghue said.

A few additional students came after the meeting, he said. Nobles stayed around to talk to them and guide them in asking questions and what to do.

Vehicle keys and “vital information” were collected Tuesday.

Options are being explored to help students, Donaghue said, including working with the students’ insurer,

University of Maine System liability insurer and students’ parents’ homeowners insurance.

The university expects an adjuster to be on site to start going over vehicles Friday, Donaghue said. The university is trying to get the adjuster to come sooner, if possible, he said.

Officials also need to know what was in the vehicles.

They’re telling students to leave everything in that was in their cars in there, he said.

In the meantime, university representatives are looking for ways to tighten up parking around campus to gain space for additional vehicles.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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