Between 50 and 60 businesses and homes on Main Street may need to be evacuated.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

Dozens of roads were closed, water lines washed out, and leaky roofs and cellars discovered following Wednesday night’s heavy rains and flooding of area streams and rivers.

And on Thursday afternoon, the Mexico Fire Department was preparing for an evacuation of the downtown area if the Androscoggin River should overflow its banks.

“We’ve been pumping cellars all night. It’s not a normal time of year for this to happen,” said Mexico Fire Chief Gary Wentzell.

That was just a part of what he and about a dozen Mexico firefighters were preparing for Thursday afternoon. They notified the 50 to 60 businesses and homes located along Main Street from the fire station to the Red Bridge, which connects Mexico with Rumford, that they may need to be evacuated later in the evening.

The Androscoggin River was almost lapping the municipal parking lot at the back of the Town Office by midafternoon. Wentzell estimated that it might overflow its banks around 7 p.m. If that happens, the plan was to blow the fire whistle for 10 straight minutes, then use a blow horn from a fire vehicle to announce a townwide evacuation. Plans were made to use Mountain Valley Middle School as an emergency shelter.

In Rumford, Fire Chief John Woulfe said his men had also been busy pumping out the cellars and basements of residences all night where electrical hazards were evident. The town of Rumford was high enough so he wasn’t worried that water would get into town. Rumford Center and Rumford Point, however, could flood.

If that happens, the Fire Department would help evacuate homeowners.

The heavy rains caused another problem for the Rumford Fire Department. Several inches of rain came in through a leaky roof, leaving streams of water on the second floor walls and floors, then flowing to the first floor. Woulfe expected to call in the town’s insurance carrier to assess damages.

If any evacuations are needed in Rumford, people would go to Mountain Valley High School.

Members of the Rumford Fire Department also assisted in at least one evacuation of a man in Canton Point who was stranded in his home because of the high river water.

Several washouts occurred in Dixfield, with the worst being on Blayne Street. Here, water lines to two homes were washed out, along with the culvert that carries Beedy Brook into the Webb River, Town Manager Nanci Allard said.

Town crew members were digging up the huge culvert by midafternoon. Residents who lived beyond the washout couldn’t leave their homes through Blayne Street, but had to go around to the exit from Dirigo Middle School, which is the town’s designated shelter if needed.

Rumford Police Sgt. Stacy Carter said numerous roads were closed in the Rumford area for all or part of Thursday, causing motorists to seek alternate routes.

Hit hardest was a stretch of Route 2 from Rumford Center to Rumford Point. Parts of the Rumford Point Bridge were flooded, along with two other sections of Route 232 just north and just south of Thornton’s farm.

Also closed for some or all of the day were the East Andover Road, the Andover Road and the intersection of Route 5 and Andover Road, Whippoorwill Road, Route 120, where the Scotty Richardson Bridge had been flooded by water earlier in the day, near the Frye Crossover along Route 120, and portions of the south Rumford Road near the former Mt. Zircon bottling plant.

While no one was hurt because of the flood waters, Carter said many people tried to drive their vehicles through stretches of road that had been barricaded, resulting in the need to be towed.

“Barricades are up for a reason,” he said.

In his 14 years with the Police Department, Carter said he had never seen such flooding during the winter.

Maine Department of Transportation Division 7 Superintendent Bob Spencer said 16 crews were out all night and day in the division’s three counties unplugging water back-ups, and erecting barricades and detour signs.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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