FORT KENT (AP) – Homes and businesses were evacuated Wednesday as spring floods along the St. John River spilled into the downtown of this Canadian border town, marking what emergency management officials described as a 100-year flood for the St. John.

Maine’s warden service reported several rescues. One dramatic effort saw a husband and wife evacuated by wardens using the bucket of a tractor.

The governor’s office issued a statement Wednesday night that said 140 homes had been flooded and 600 people evacuated.

A flash flood watch was in effect for the area below the Mill Pond Dam on the Salmon Brook.

The National Weather Service said there was 12 feet of water behind the lower end of the dam, and that the upper end of the dam had been weakened.

The service said if the dam failed, it could release a seven-foot wall of water. However, it was “stabilizing through the evening,” the NWS said in a statement Wednesday night.

At least 3 inches of rain combined with melting snow sent the St. John to more than 3 feet above flood stage, causing water to begin rising on Main Street in Fort Kent. Before the river crests, it was expected to spill over a dike along the river, officials said.

“We’re evacuating all the main streets, going to all the businesses and telling them to close up for safety,” police Chief Kenneth Michaud said.

Hours earlier, the Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency said residents of about 30 to 40 homes were ordered to leave because of rising floodwaters caused by heavy rain and the melting of the region’s heaviest snow accumulations in memory.

Evacuations also took place along the St. John River in Van Buren, downstream from Fort Kent, and in the Penobscot County town of Mattawamkeag due to the Mattawamkeag and Penobscot rivers spilling over their banks, according to the National Weather Service.

Additionally, the Maine Warden Service and the Washburn fire and police departments directed evacuations down stream from two dams in danger of breaching.

Twenty-five wardens have been dispatched to The County along with 18-foot boats, airboats, a jet boat and a fixed-wing airplane.

Warden Service spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte said wardens managed to rescue an elderly Soldier Pond couple on Wednesday by using a tractor. The husband and wife each use oxygen tanks to assist their breathing. Wardens Chad Abbott and Brad Richard put the couple and their tanks in the bucket of the tractor and carried them across high water, Turcotte said.

Wardens also delivered heart medication to an elderly woman in St. John who had run out of medication. The wardens had to use a local trail to get to her. A potato farmer with a bucket loader and a logging contractor helped clear the trail and wardens used a chain saw and an ax to remove a large tree from their way.

Later Wednesday morning, Wardens Jim Martin and Ed Christie rescued an elderly woman in St. Agatha whose house was threatened by rising water. Her husband had been taken to Northern Maine Medical Center the day before and she was alone. They gave the lady a ride to St. David to stay with friends.

The International Bridge over the St. John between Fort Kent and Clair, New Brunswick, was closed amid fears that the raging waters could drag it down. The bridge over the Fish River, which empties into the St. John, also was closed as a precaution.

“If that bridge falls over, it would make like a dam, and the water would wash over the main street,” Michaud said.

Officials said 25 wardens were deployed in northern Aroostook County, using six 18-foot boats, two airboats, a jet boat and an airplane.

Local officials have been watching the St. John since last week when rising waters caused concern on the Canadian side. Those waters had been receding until a deluge of 3 inches or more of rain over a 24-hour period, said Joseph Hewitt of the National Weather Service.

There was still a half-foot of snow on the ground following a winter that dumped around 200 inches of snow in the region, and the melting snow exacerbated the situation.

After viewing the flooding, Gov. John Baldacci said it was “hard to take.”

“What I kept trying to tell people,” Baldacci said, “is that nobody lost a life and that is the most important thing.”

It was the worst flooding ever seen in the community of 4,200 residents, Hewitt said.

An emergency shelter was set up at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where 20 to 40 people had gathered by late morning.

In Augusta, where Gov. Baldacci issued a state of emergency Tuesday night because of flood conditions in Aroostook County, the Maine Emergency Management Agency activated its 24-hour operations center.

Baldacci and MEMA officials flew by airplane to Aroostook County, where he then boarded a helicopter to get an aerial tour of the situation and meet with local officials in Fort Kent.

During a conference call, scientists described the flooding on the St. John as “greater than a 100-year event,” said Lynette Miller, MEMA spokeswoman.

“It’s certainly a dangerous situation. That’s why they’re doing evacuations proactively. They’ve been out there early and often with the warnings,” she said.

The problems were worst on the U.S. side of the river, but warnings were being issued to residents in low-lying areas around Fredericton, New Brunswick, about 200 miles away from Fort Kent.

Emergency officials in New Brunswick warned people living along the St. John River to brace for the worst flood in decades, with up to 1,300 homes threatened by the rising water. By Wednesday afternoon, more than 300 people had registered with the Red Cross to confirm they have left their homes or plan to do so.

That number was expected to grow as officials warned that floodwaters would continue to rise until Thursday morning, when the crest in the Fredericton area would likely reach a level just below the record level set in 1973.

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