By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

ANDOVER – Bill Butler was on his way to a meeting in Upton last week when he decided to pass through Andover and take the East B Hill Road.

“I took a chance and I went the more direct route,” Butler said Tuesday, adding that he could have gone over Route 26 through Newry. While the latter would have taken longer, it would been a wiser choice. When Butler reached East B Hill Road he was greeted with a “Road Closed” sign.

A one-mile stretch of East B Hill Road was transformed into a off-road nightmare by runoff after rains that fell April 2 and 3, Butler said. “It was awful. It really looked like something out of a movie.”

The road is an extreme example of damage faced by towns across Oxford County as a result of the early spring rainfall. Flooded basements also have plagued residents and town officials.

According to Lynette Miller, a spokesperson with the Maine Emergency Management Agency, Oxford County towns initially reported $1.6 million in combined damages after the rainfall. The number is expected to drop after some study, Miller said, but Oxford County so far has reported more damage than any other in the state.

She said Gov. John Baldacci is expected to request that a state of emergency be declared so Maine counties qualify for federal emergency management money to help with repairs.

When Butler found himself before a “Road Closed” sign on April 5, he parked his car to take a look. After walking up the road he realized he wouldn’t be making it to Upton that day. Huge slabs of pavement were torn and tilted toward the sky, large rocks were strewn across the way and there were holes up to 6 feet deep in places. Butler learned that people living nearby had heard the road give way.

“The locals reportedly said that it sounded like an avalanche or the whole side of a mountain coming down,” he said. “There were boulders the size of basketballs.”

An environmental specialist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Butler took several pictures and forwarded them to friends working in areas such as flood plain and storm water management. The photos also made their way to Carole Mahoney, administrative assistant to the Oxford County Commission.

Mahoney said Tuesday the county is responsible for the section of East B Hill Road that washed out during the rain. Initial repair estimates came in at $170,000, she said.

Marhsall Meisner, Andover’s road commissioner, said the county paved the road for the first time two years ago. He acts as the county road commissioner for that area in the summer, he said. Any immediate repairs will not involve new pavement.

Instead, Meisner said, by removing the pavement slabs and returning the road to dirt, “hopefully it will be done by the end of the week for traffic.”

Butler is not the only person who has been affected by the road closure. Meisner said a recent study by the Maine Department of Transportation predicted that 650 to 700 cars would be traveling that road every day in 2005.

“It’s traveled a heck of a lot more than everybody figures,” Meisner said.

Rebecca Champagne lives in Colebrook, N.H., and works for the Andover Division of Ethan Allen. Until last week, she traveled over East B Hill Road every day. So did truckers hauling products for Ethan Allen.

“It’s a pain. A big pain,” she said of the road closure Tuesday. “A lot of people use that road. It’s a good shortcut.”