MINOT – A state highway official said Monday it remains uncertain how much it will cost to rebuild sections of routes 119 and 124, washed away in a localized thunderstorm that dumped 5 inches of water in under two hours.

The cost of repairs would likely be, “in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more,” said Herb Thompson, the communications director for the Maine Department of Transportation.

Both roads were repaved in 2007 and the work included typical prep, edging and culvert work but was not a re-engineering of the roads, Thompson said. “These roads were never built to a modern standard,” Thompson said.

Damage to the roads’ drainage systems appeared to be extensive, and while the roads were largely passable for local traffic, work was expected to continue for several more weeks, Thompson said.

Only one section, about a half mile of Route 119 just south of West Minot Village to the junction of the Bradbury Road, remained closed Monday. Thompson said the state was unsure when it would be reopened but that extensive repair work including the installation and replacement of at least one deep culvert was necessary. Residents on either side of the stretch did have access to their homes, Thompson said.

On Saturday, the state mobilized a small army of workers, a fleet of 28 state and five commercial dump trucks along with excavators, rollers and other road-building equipment. Most of the damaged areas were passable within 24 hours, he said. Hauled away were more than 63 dump-truck loads of damaged pavement, and hauled in were more than 2,374 cubic yards of road-building materials, Thompson said Monday.

“The scale of this storm was historic,” Thompson said. While he is not a hydrologist or soil scientist Thompson said the heavy rains in August and soil conditions in the area likely factored into the washouts.

“The soils are saturated and this is an area with a lot of ledge and rocky soils where the water tends to run off very rapidly,” Thompson said.

Thompson said there was no real contingency fund for repairing storm-damaged roads but it’s a cost that is factored into the general MDOT budget. The damage wasn’t expected to detract from other planned capital improvement projects slated for 2008 and 2009, he said.

Motorists travelling routes 119 and 124 should expect delays for the next several weeks.

“At this time, we really don’t know how long it is going to be but there is a way for traffic to get around,” Thompson said. “We had some major damage and there was a more significant amount of attention that the road needed and will continue to get.”