CANTON – Emergency officials were making evacuation plans Friday after forecasters predicted 3 to 5 inches of rain to fall over Maine and New Hampshire this weekend.
A flood watch was issued at 3 p.m. Friday by the National Weather Service, advising that rain will begin in southern New Hampshire at dawn Saturday, spread northeast through Maine and continue through Sunday morning.
“If we get that rainfall and the warmth, I anticipate flooding,” said National Weather Service hydrometeorologist James Brown. The still fairly heavy snow cover is well-saturated with water, and the melting snow in the mountains and additional rain could bring flooding in many parts of western Maine, he said.
In the Oxford County town of Canton, Fire Chief Wayne Dube and about a dozen volunteer firefighters spent Friday moving equipment from the fire station and town office, which lie in the Androscoggin River flood plain.
He said the town’s emergency management director, Jim Dyment, began going door to door Friday morning warning residents of the possibility of flooding and advising them to prepare for a quick evacuation.
Dube, along with Oxford County Emergency Management Agency Director Dan Schorr, Med-Care Ambulance Service director Dean Milligan, and Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center administrator Mark Jacobs, plan to confer every six hours, if necessary, during the weekend.
Dube said plans have also been made with SAD 21 to bus residents from the local nursing home to the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School if flooding occurs.
Dube said Fire Department equipment is being trucked to the new highway garage on Route 108, and town office computers, materials and other equipment are either being stored at town Administrative Assistant Kathy Hutchins’ home or higher sections of the town office.
Because of these preparations, the town office will be closed Saturday and Monday. Whether it will be closed longer will depend upon the flooding, Dube said.
A major flood in December 2003 left 50 Canton village households uninhabitable and caused more than $2 million in damage. The town is now pursuing a plan to relocate the village, where the fire station and town office are also located.
Upriver, Rumford Fire Chief John Woulfe said shelters will be set up at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford and Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico, if evacuations are required. If necessary, cooks will arrive early Sunday morning to feed the evacuees.
He said firefighting and emergency apparatus will also be stationed at Rumford Center and Rumford Point, two areas on the Androscoggin River that were hit during December 2003 flood.
Woulfe said he expects the greatest potential for flooding will be late Sunday or into Monday, when runoff swells major streams and empties into the river.
The Oxford County Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Paris will be open, should the need arise, he said.
He advised residents to call 911 for help.
Franklin County Emergency Management Director Tim Hardy said people in flood-prone areas should plan ahead.
“If people live in a flood plain, they should make preparations to evacuate and don’t wait until the last minute,” he said. He said preparations should include plans for places to go, and care for pets.
He said Fire Department members are alerting households particularly prone to flooding. For help, residents are advised to call the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department at 778-2680, or the county Emergency Management Office at 778-5892.
He also warned people to stay away from sections of roads that are barricaded.
“Those barricades are there for a reason,” he said.
Androscoggin County EMA Director Joanne Potvin said Friday night that her office is ready to begin alerting those in flood-prone areas, if needed.
“Right now it’s a sit-and-wait situation,” she said. The river level in Lewiston and Auburn will depend on the amount of water and snowmelt in the upper reaches in the north and the temperature.
“We’re going to hope for cool weather the next several days,” she said.
Staff writer Mary Delamater contributed to this report.
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