By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

CANTON – Wayne Dube and Jim Dyment were worried about the Canton Lake dam Monday morning.

Dube is Canton’s fire chief; Dyment, a fire lieutenant and the town’s emergency management agency director.

Both said they feared that more rain or runoff from Trask Mountain into the lake could forcibly release the dammed water and flood the town.

Dyment said there are four water-release gates on the lake. The dam owner complied with their earlier request to close three gates and open one.

But a problem was developing Monday morning. Water was starting to flow over the gates, Dyment said.

“It’s not bad yet, but we would like to relieve some of the stress on the gates,” he said.

But letting out some water was dependent on the ice jam upstream on the Androscoggin River in Rumford staying put. That, and no more downpours.

“Those gates are keeping this side of town controlled,” Dyment said.

“For every inch the dam is holding back, it’s like a million to a million and a half gallons of water,” Dube said.

“By choking the lake off, it gave us more room down here,” he added, standing in front of the fire station. The station, municipal building, a SAD 21 elementary school, and much of the town lie in the Androscoggin’s floodplain.

“Now, we have to try to let it out as gradually as we can and not cause any trouble, but the weather that’s been predicted is in our favor,” Dube said.

The dam impounds three brooks – Whitney, Thompson and Sparrow – forming Canton Lake, which is also known as Lake Anasagunticook.

Three brooks – Whitney, Childs and Bog – also meet on Bixby Road, but Whitney is the only one that officials are able to control by using the dam, Dyment said.

Two families living on Bixby Road were evacuated before Saturday and Sunday’s heavy rains overwhelmed the road. They won’t be able to return for a couple of days, Dyment said.

Flooding from the three brooks on Bixby Road forced Bob and Claire Austin, who live nearby, to evacuate their two miniature horses and two Irish Dexter cows from the back pasture, Claire Austin said early Monday evening.

The horses were being cared for elsewhere, but the cows, one of which is pregnant, spent Monday in a temporary pen in the small front yard adjacent to Route 140.

“Last year, in December, this area of our front lawn was the only part that wasn’t flooded,” she said.

So they built the temporary pen there for the cows, which are for sale. It also made it that much easier and faster to get out in a hurry, should they have to evacuate, she added.