AUGUSTA (AP) – Federal officials began the assessment process Monday to calculate damage across Maine from last week’s heavy rain and flooding.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will assess damage to private homes and businesses in Aroostook County and to roads and other public infrastructure in the midcoast area, said Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Heavy rain and melting snow caused river flooding across northern Maine, the worst of which took place at the confluence of the St. John and Fish rivers in Fort Kent. There, more than 130 homes were evacuated and the International Bridge linking Fort Kent to Clair, New Brunswick, was shut down for four days.

The heavy rain also caused extensive road damage across other parts of Maine.

Damage tallies to public infrastructure now exceed more than $1 million in Knox, Waldo, Lincoln, Piscataquis and Somerset counties, Miller said.

Most of the losses involve roads that were damaged or washed out during heavy rains that fell across the state in the middle of last week. The numbers will rise as additional counties report their damage.

The threat of flooding for the most part had passed, Miller said. Early Monday afternoon, the only flood warning in effect was for minor flooding on the Mattawamkeag River.

“Rivers and streams are running high, but we’re running out of the worst of it, I think,” she said.

Gov. John Baldacci has has made an expedited request for individual emergency assistance in Aroostook County. As damage estimates come in from across Maine, the numbers will be used to apply for federal assistance as needed.

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