BETHEL – All roads into Bethel were shut down Thursday morning due to flooding.

Route 26 was blocked. Route 5 was closed. Route 2 was underwater.

Some businesses were flooded. The water district’s treatment plant automatically shut down due to high water and the town office was closed.

So what’s a town manager supposed to do when the whole town becomes isolated?

Not much when these things happen all at once, said Town Manager Scott Cole.

“I’ve fielded 50 calls so far about mobility,” Cole said Thursday afternoon.

That’s why he relied heavily on the town’s fire and rescue departments, police force and town crews.

Bethel’s problems began Wednesday night when flood waters started cresting over roads, shutting down the Intervale Road and Route 26. Washouts occurred on several dirt roads as well.

With the snow pack from this past weekend’s storm still in place, water had nowhere to go but down roads, the easiest path.

“As of right now, there is open water on Route 2 upstream and the downstream surface is covered with ice flows. Davis Park and the Parkway intersection is under water,” Cole said.

School buses were evacuated to higher ground when SAD 44’s bus garage flooded.

“All of this is nature at work and I’m not worried, because people here are resilient. We’ll figure it out and move on,” Cole added.

For Jeff Parsons and Todd Swan, work Thursday morning in Bethel was a rather soggy adventure.

Parsons owns and operates Bethel Outdoor Adventure and Campground at 121 Mayville Road (Route 2) with wife, Pattie, while Swan is employed across the road at Big Adventure Center at 12 North Road.

Located beside the Androscoggin River, both businesses had waterfront property Thursday that didn’t exist the day before.

According to the National Weather Service in Gray, Bethel received 2.95 inches of rain from Wednesday’s storm. Releases from waterlogged upstream dams in New Hampshire also contributed to Bethel’s flooding woes along the Androscoggin.

“We were doing free canoeing and kayaking lessons today, because we had lake front, but no one took us up on it. What a shame,” Parsons said.

Grounds at both businesses were flooded by water to a depth of 5 to 6 feet. And that was above the river channel.

“I had to canoe over to our building this morning,” Parsons said. “For 90 percent of our stuff, we did everything right last night. We moved the RVs out and got things tied down.”

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