Two days after devastating floods hit Oxford County, several roads remained either underwater Friday or blocked by debris and ice chunks.

About 30 homes in Canton were under 5 feet of water and the town’s entire sewage system was gone. The water treatment plant, however, was doing just fine.

Bethel’s water treatment plant, which was shut down by flooding Wednesday night, was back online and operating at 90 percent capacity Friday morning. But Water District officials were still urging customers to conserve water.

Most of the roads into and out of Bethel opened Friday, and the Androscoggin River, which created most of the mess, was receding north of Auburn.

In Auburn, however, the river surpassed its 13-foot flood stage Friday morning, cresting at 14.2 feet by 3 p.m. It was not expected to fall below flood stage until 4 a.m. Saturday.

And while Christmas tunes rang out across Congress Street in Rumford, the mood seemed anything but festive.

But, little by little, things were improving, said Division 7 Superintendent Bob Spencer of the Maine Department of Transportation in Dixfield.

One lane of Route 108 was opened Friday afternoon, allowing traffic into and out of Canton. Barricades will be in place over the weekend, so drivers should exercise caution.

Route 140 between Canton and Jay was still under water and not expected to open any time soon.

“We still don’t know what has happened on 140 toward Jay, but we know there’s an ice jam in there on the river,” Spencer said Friday afternoon.

Canton Point Road was also under water up to 1,000 feet back from the intersection with Route 140, he added.

Route 5 in Andover, which had been closed due to high water, was opened to traffic Friday, but East B Hill and Covered Bridge roads remained closed.

Spencer said Covered Bridge Road was opened a few times Friday but shut down when road crews realized the Ellis River was rising.

Route 2 from Rumford to Newry finally opened, negating the need to detour on back roads around Rumford Point.

Route 120 in Andover was opened but South Rumford Road and Route 232 in Rumford remained closed due to flooding.

Sunday River Access Road, which was closed Thursday preventing the ski area from opening, was free of water Friday morning.

Spencer said his overwhelmed transportation crews had yet to get to those two roads.

In Farmington, Route 27 opened Friday, as did Front Street. Route 41 in New Sharon was still closed officially, although Spencer said water over the road was only 3 inches deep and cars could get through.

Route 113 in Fryeburg was still closed due to flooding along the Saco River. Hunts Corner and Bisbeetown roads in Waterford remained closed Friday.

He also expected crews to fill in some of the many washouts across Oxford County and get to more by next week.

Flooding was caused by several ice jams in the Androscoggin River watershed and more than 3 inches of rain that fell over Oxford and Franklin counties Wednesday.

Franklin County Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Olive Toothaker said pretty much every road was open and passable.

Joan Bouchard, the flood secretary at Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency in Lewiston, said the only flooded road they had was North River Road, which is a traditional trouble spot.

Dawn Dunn, deputy director of Oxford County Emergency Management Agency in Paris, said Friday afternoon, “It’s been a long night. I’ve only had a couple hours sleep. Canton is still bad and it’s going to take a while to clean it up.”

Dunn said the situation in Canton turned dire when town officials learned they’d lost their sewer system.

“A lot of people there have been evacuated out of their residences, of which, water is covering the first floors. And there’s ice everywhere in houses and basements. Some people will be lucky if they actually have homes left,” Dunn added.

An emergency center set up at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School would remain open overnight to help displaced Canton residents.

Dunn said about 30 homes in Canton along School Street, Route 140 and the river had been evacuated. Residents living along Canton Point Road were still without electricity.

“There’s no power there because of all the water and I don’t look for it to come back until Sunday. Central Maine Power crews can’t even get in,” Dunn added.

And as far as she knew, only one injury was attributed to Wednesday’s rainy deluge.

Gilead firefighter and department secretary Susan Saunders slipped on icy Route 2 while helping sort out a tractor-trailer accident and more than 100 cars backed up Wednesday night.

Gilead Administrative Assistant Beverley Corriveau said Saunders fractured her tail bone. Her husband transported Saunders to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway for treatment.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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