JAY — Motorists are ignoring signs, barricades, piles of dirt and orange cones, especially at night, to drive on roads damaged by Thursday’s deluge of rain and flash flooding, Fire Rescue Chief Mike Booker said Monday.
A Dodge Ram pickup truck lies on its side Sunday night near 947 Franklin Road in Jay after Joann Coons, 52, of Norridgewock drove into a hole left from Thursday night’s rainstorm that dumped 5 to 6 inches in the area. She was checked by a NorthStar EMS ambulance but not taken to a hospital. Jay Fire Rescue Chief Mike Booker said Monday that some drivers are ignoring barricades, signs, piles of dirt and orange cones set out to warn them of danger. Jay Fire Rescue photo
Flooding was reported across the region Thursday as an intense storm dumped 5 inches to 6 inches of rain in two hours, Amanda Simoneau, director of Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, said Friday.
“They are not listening to us,” Booker said. “People keep going around the signs, barricades and cones.”
Some vehicles have landed in deep holes or rolled over.
A town excavator working Monday morning on Davenport Hill Road got stuck in power lines and the operator had to wait for Central Maine Power crews to arrive, Booker said. There were no injuries and no damage to the machine.
Jay Fire Rescue posted on its Facebook page a photo of a red pickup with its passenger, front tire on the edge of a hole on Woodman Hill Road, Booker said. The driver left the scene and the truck. The hole was 20 feet to 30 feet deep, he said.
Booker said he wouldn’t walk at night where the vehicles are driving because of the damage.
A tire on a pickup truck goes into 20- to 30-foot wide hole on Woodman Hill Road in Jay. Fire Rescue Chief Mike Booker said drivers are ignoring signs, barricades, dirt piles and orange cones set out after Thursday night’s rainstorm that took out roads and bridges in the area. Jay Fire Rescue photo
There were two crashes on state Route 133 in the area of the Belanger Vehicle Repair sign.
“Luckily nobody was seriously hurt,” Booker said.
A 2020 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck was driving in the area of 947 Franklin Road — marked local traffic only — about 9:47 p.m. Sunday when it drove into a hole and rolled over, Adams said. Driver Joann Coons, 52, of Norridgewock was checked at the scene by a NorthStar EMS ambulance crew, he said. She wasn’t taken by ambulance to a hospital. Officer Noah Kolodji investigated, and Jay firefighters assisted.
“Just because a vehicle goes by doesn’t mean you should also, because they might live (in the local traffic only area,)” Adams said.
State Route 133, also known as Franklin Road, is expected to be closed for several weeks for repairs.
State Route 140 opened Saturday afternoon.
Many roads were repaired over the weekend into Monday and some have reopened.
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