CANTON – All 110 residents of the Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center were evacuated Thursday afternoon due to flooding on Route 108.

Nursing home administrator Mark Jacobs said most of the residents will be housed at the Hartford/Sumner Elementary School, while a few were transported to other nursing homes in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Transportation was provided by two SAD 21 school buses, vans from the nursing home, and nursing home staff vehicles.

Jacobs said the staff is prepared to provide care for residents for up to two days at the alternative site.

“We have extra staff on duty. Everyone is handing it well,” said Jacobs. “The staff is doing a really good job.”

He said water had crossed Route 108 and reached the edge of the driveway to the nursing home.

The decision to evacuate this time was made a bit earlier than during the flood of 1987, so residents were able to more easily be moved out of the nursing home. He said he watched reports from the National Weather Service and decided to begin the evacuation before the Androscoggin River crested. In 1987, the National Guard had to be called to help out.

Melissa Reuter, administrative assistant to the superintendent for SAD 39, said the gym at the Hartford/Sumner Elementary School is full-sized, with lockers and bathrooms. It has been designated as an emergency shelter by the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency, which called the school earlier in the day to clear its use as a shelter.

She said if school is held on Friday, physical education students will attend classes at alternative sites, such as outside or in their classrooms.

Besides the nursing home residents, county EMA Director Dan Schorr said people from about 30 homes near the river also had to be evacuated. The municipal offices, also located in the river’s flood plain, were evacuated on Wednesday.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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