State politicians have petitioned the president to declare the flood zone a disaster area.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

CANTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency has assessed nearly $500,000 in damage to the infrastructure of Oxford County towns during the December floods. Canton and Bethel sustained the most.

But the amount of damage to individual homes and businesses, particularly in those two towns, will likely not be known for many weeks.

In Canton, a preliminary damage and cost estimate compiled by Community Concepts and town officials came in at about $2.1 million.

Lynette Miller, a spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency, said visits by FEMA representatives during the past few weeks have determined that Canton sustained nearly $93,000 in road, shoulder and culvert damage, costs for debris removal and other costs related to the flooding waters of the Androscoggin River on Dec. 18. That figure in Bethel is $83,000. In Dixfield, it’s $46,000. Other Oxford County towns and FEMA damage estimates are: Rumford, $28,000; Gilead, about $16,000; Stoneham, $8,800; and Byron, $6,800. In Carthage, in adjacent Franklin County, that figure is nearly $12,000.

Miller said federal funding will likely be split 75 percent/25 percent, with the involved towns or Maine Department of Transportation picking up the smaller portions if the final approval comes through. That could come within the next week or so.

The dollar figure for home and business damage will depend upon many factors, including the amount of insurance carried by the property owner, said Miller.

Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Rep. Michael Michaud are pushing for several areas in the state to be declared disaster areas so businesses and individuals can take advantage of grants or low-interest loans.

In Baldacci’s five-page letter to President Bush and FEMA, dated Jan. 9, he said the severity of the damage exceeds the abilities of the state and involved municipalities. He requested that the counties of Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset and Waldo be declared major disaster areas as a result of heavy rains, ice jams and flooding that began Dec. 10 and ran through Dec. 31.

Press releases by Collins, Snowe and Michaud call for disaster relief caused by the Dec. 18 flood.

Miller said Canton’s efforts taken before the flood to try to mitigate future flooding could also serve in the town’s favor. Some homeowners diked their homes or elevated their furnaces.

The Canton Comprehensive Plan Committee had also applied for a Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant to help with its plan to move the village area from the floodplain to higher ground along Route 108. Miller said that grant, for $98,000, should be coming through in a few days. The Comprehensive Plan Committee estimates several million dollars will be needed to relocate the village.

Miller said potential funding to relocate the village can happen without the area being declared a disaster area.

Soon after the flooding, Canton town officials applied for and received a $100,000 “urgent need” grant from the federal Community Development Block Grant program to use for immediate clean-up and other needs.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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