RUMFORD – Mexico fire Chief Gary Wentzell is worried. Spring’s arrival is 16 days away, a wintry-mix series of storms looms, and there’s still an above-normal water-heavy snowpack on the ground.

“It’s going to be bad,” Wentzell said Tuesday afternoon regarding the latest weather forecasts, snow-laden roofs and flooding potential along the Androscoggin River in Mexico.

Hold on, says Scott Parker, director of the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency.

Whether the region sees any spring flooding will depend largely on how the snow eventually melts, Parker maintains. Gradually warming days and cooler nights would help to regulate melting.

“If things stay the way they are, it’s not that big of a problem,” Parker said.

Historically, flooding happens in Maine during thaws in March and April. With a heavy snowpack covering watersheds, a sudden warm-up and a few inches of rain will flush much of it down streams and rivers.

“They’re talking like three to four storms this week and next week,” Wentzell said. “If we get half an inch of ice tomorrow and much rain, we’re going to see some buildings collapse. Six storms between now and spring? Yeah, I’m a little bit concerned,” he said.

Several others also are worried – enough to contact insurance agents regarding homeowner’s and flood insurance.

“We’ve had a lot of calls, but people don’t realize there’s a 30-day wait for flood insurance,” Lory Zamboni of Kyes Insurance in Farmington said Tuesday afternoon.

“Most quotes don’t go further after they learn there’s a 30-day wait, because their need is now. A flood’s on the doorstep, but they need to buy it before then,” Zamboni added.

According to the Maine State Planning Office in Augusta, many people erroneously believe their homeowner’s or business owner’s insurance policy will cover flood-related damages. It doesn’t.

To get insurance protection related to flood damage, property owners and renters should buy flood insurance.

“It is estimated that up to 75 percent of homes and businesses in flood plains in Maine are not covered by flood insurance,” a March 1 news release from the state planning office stated.

There are 8,273 flood insurance policies in effect in Maine, up 3.4 percent over last year’s policy numbers. That rise was attributed to increased flood insurance awareness from major flooding events in Maine and around the country.

Maine also has more than $1.6 billion in flood insurance coverage, the report states.

Pam Sharkey, office manager at Glen Craig State Farm Insurance in Rumford, said she’s also taken several calls seeking quotes for flood insurance.

“Some of them are not even in a flood zone. One guy said that with all the snow, he was worried that runoff from the mountain would be in his basement. And there was one in Roxbury who called, who is not in the flood zone, but I know from the ’87 flood that that area floods,” Sharkey said.

She was referring to the April Fool’s Day flood of 1987. According to the Maine Emergency Management Agency Web site, Maine had a normal snowpack and normal flood potential in late March of 1987.

Then, a warm rainstorm hit, dumping 4 to 6 inches across the mountains. That, combined with 6 or more inches of melted snow, created disastrous flooding with losses estimated at more than $100 million.

“In ’87, the water came up so fast. We were walking down Holman Avenue with water just getting up to our shoes, and we went from shoe deep to waist deep in 15 minutes,” Wentzell said.

State, weather and emergency management agency officials across Maine will have a better grasp of the situation later this week.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, there is a river advisory meeting at the MEMA office in Augusta.

Between now and next week, Wentzell said he and other firefighters would be warning Mexico residents along the Androscoggin.

“I seriously feel it’s going to come up this year. People really need to think seriously and get their valuable stuff out of their basements. They need to start checking their sump pumps. If we get any spring rains and a warm up, it’s definitely coming into the streets,” Wentzell said.

Staff writer M. Dirk Langeveld contributed to this report.