Western Maine rivers and streams overflowed their banks Thursday, forcing evacuations, blocking roads and shutting down schools and businesses.

Highways were closed, and officials helped people escape low-lying homes after more than 3 inches of rain fell on some parts of the state.

Several buildings and residences in Canton along the Androscoggin River were evacuated. Among them: Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center, where 110 residents were moved out, most to the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School.

The town of Bethel was isolated as all major arteries leading to the town were closed due to flooding.

The rain and melted snow flowed into streams already choked with ice jams responsible for earlier flooding.

As night fell, police responding to vehicles off the road and a car collision with two deer on Route 2 reported that the flooding problem was worsening and that water on the roads was freezing.

Rumford Fire Department began evacuating people from Rumford Center and Rumford Point Thursday night, taking them to Mountain Valley High School.

In Bethel, the wastewater treatment plant sustained substantial damage from flooding.

The Androscoggin River was expected to crest at about 1 a.m. Friday.

Susan DuPlessis, Sunday River Ski Resort spokeswoman, said that flooding-related road closures of Route 2, Route 26 and Route 5, stranded the ski area, forcing it to close.

“We’re isolated,” DuPlessis said.

“All of the major routes are closed. That’s why we we were never able to open today. We realized that we didn’t have any ambulance service if someone got hurt. We didn’t have any way to get an ambulance in.”

Resort officials intend to open for business Friday, she said.

Most of Franklin County’s towns had flooding, said Olive Toothaker, county assistant Emergency Management Agency director.

Farmington had 2.92 inches of rain fall between 7:45 a.m. Wednesday and 3 a.m. Thursday, National Weather Service observer Dennis Pike said.

The Sandy River overflowed its banks turning some fields and roads into lakes in Farmington and surrounding towns.

Cumberland Farms, McDonald’s and Irving gas station along the Intervale on Route 4 in Farmington were closed because of the flooding and Hippach Field was underwater.

The university’s athletic field and a former parking lot at Prescott Field, looked like a lake and even had some rapids on it at the edge of varsity soccer field.

The university’s outbuildings were partially submerged in water and one storage shed floated away.

Dan Schorr, emergency management director for Oxford County, worried about towns in the north of the county, along the Androscoggin River.

“There’s an ice jam downriver from bridge on 140 in Canton that’s holding water up,” Schorr said. “But that’s just one of many factors contributing to the flooding. There’s too many factors to say that just one is the cause.”

He added that temperature, runoff, the amount of snow, and the amount of water coming down from the Swift River and other tributaries into the Androscoggin all contributed to the flooding.

Mexico firefighters, who had been pumping out flooded cellars Wednesday night, on Thursday began notifying 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.

A stretch of Route 2 from Rumford Center to Rumford Point was flooded, as were parts of Rumford Point Bridge and two sections of Route 232.

With roads closed due to high water, there was no way out for many.

“You can’t get to Bethel. You can’t get to Rumford,” said Greenwood Town Manager Carol Whitman. “You can’t get there from here.”

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