RANGELEY — Torrential rains and thunderstorms hammered the Rangeley area Friday night into Saturday, washing out roads and culverts.

There was at least one eight-hour thunderstorm that dumped 3 to 4 inches of rain in Dallas Plantation and neighboring areas in northern Franklin County, Norm Haggan, Maine Department of Transportation region manager of Region 3, said Tuesday.

DOT crews were first called out at about 6 p.m. to Route 16 in Dallas Plantation near the Redington Road, Haggan said. It was raining hard and it started washing out the road and plugged up one culvert and then another, Haggan said.

“After the first culvert plugged, it was a domino effect,” he said.

Parts of the road shoulder were lost and in some places the whole travel lane in a 2,000-foot area was washed away, he said.

DOT crews were able to get one traffic lane open Saturday, he said.

“We put up our portable traffic signals,” he said. The signals will remain running until the road has two lanes passable.

Crews also responded to South Shore Drive, the road to the Rangeley Lakes State Park in Rangeley Plantation, where a short section had one lane wash out, Haggan said.

The crew worked most of Friday night and most of Saturday to get the roads passable, he said.

The rain started about 5 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Rangeley Fire Chief Rudy Davis said Tuesday.

There were a variety of different storm cells that dropped nearly 4 inches of rain, he said. The rain would subside at some points, he said, and then pick up again.

“Evidently it was isolated to this area,” Davis said.

Haggan said he knew of no damage in neighboring Oxford County.

Rangeley Fire Department was called out at about 8 p.m. to Verrill Terrace, located in back of the Rangeley Inn, on Haley Pond, Davis said. Water was running underneath and around a house that has no basement and is built off the ground, he said.

Firefighters put sandbags down to divert the water away the home, he said.

The next call came in for Morton and Furbish Insurance Agency on Main Street. There was so much water coming down that the storm drains were not able to take care of it, Davis said.

“Water was running right into (Curtis Haley’s) establishment,” he said.

They filled sandbags and got the water diverted around the agency building, he said.

The Rangeley Highway Department also was called out and assisted firefighters with sandbags until the crew had to break away to deal with other road issues.

Firefighters were out for about four hours and then went back to the town garage to fill and stock pile sandbags, Davis said.

On Saturday, firefighters put sandbags around the dam at Haley Pond to divert water away from buildings. As a precaution more sandbags were put down in different areas to try to keep water back, he said.

There was a lot of local damage to some driveways and culverts caused by the downpours, he said.

Rangeley Highway Department foreman Earl Ross said there was quite a bit of damage done but he couldn’t put a price tag on it yet, he said.

“We lost a couple of roads,” Ross said.

The town crew called in a local contractor with heavy equipment to help them get roads passable for emergency personnel, he said.

There was significant damage done to Pickford, Judkins and Shore roads, he said. About 2 inches of the 3.38 inches of rain fell between 7 and 9 p.m., Ross said.

One whole side of the Pickford Road was washed out and a culvert washed out on Judkins.

“We had significant damage all around,” Ross said, and some of it was around the paved edges of the roads.

It will take a week or two to get everything fixed, he said.

“We have 29 miles of road and damage is scattered throughout,” Ross said.

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