NEWRY – At about 3:30 p.m Thursday, Susan DuPlessis was elated to see a United Parcel Service truck arrive at Sunday River Ski Resort. It was one of the few vehicles that reached the ski area, which never opened for the day.

DuPlessis, the resort’s 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.”

Most of the resort’s employees were unable to get to work and those few who did were sent home.

“It’s very strange here now. It feels almost surreal. Once the season kicks in and everything is going at a good pace and we’re getting lots of snow, you get used to the pace.

“But to come in to work on a December day and find empty parking lots and quiet halls and snow coming down outside and no people here, it feels very weird,” DuPlessis said.

The last time something similar occurred was back in 1993 or 1995. But then, unlike what happened Thursday, people could still get into Bethel using the back roads.

Resort officials intend to open for business Friday. Groomers were due to arrive soon and get on the slopes. Snowmaking would be resumed Thursday night into Friday, although slopes never lost their snowpack.

“The freezing rain really helped a lot. It created a layer atop the snow so our snow cover still looks good. As long as the roads in are passable, we’ll be back in business tomorrow,” she added.

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