REGION — Power outages, washed out roads, rescued motorists and closed schools are just some of the impacts left from a rain and wind storm Monday, Dec. 18, into Tuesday, Dec. 19.
A washout is seen on Greenridge Way near the intersection with Route 4 Monday afternoon, Dec. 18, in Jay. Heavy rain and high winds damaged roads and caused power outages. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Monday afternoon the Livermore Falls Advertiser saw a washout on part of Greenridge Way near the intersection with Route 4 in Jay. Water rushed along the edge of Route 4 and a firewood stand in that area had been upended by the wind. Later Monday in Jay, Route 4 and parts of Route 133 were flooded and a large pine tree was blocking Route 156 near Bean’s Corner.
Regional School Unit 73 and other area schools dismissed early Monday because of the storm. Schools were shuttered Tuesday and Wednesday. RSU 73 held classes for the scheduled half day Thursday, although neighboring Regional School Unit 9 [with schools in Wilton, Farmington and New Sharon] did not.
A firewood stand on Route 4 in Jay is seen after being tipped over by high winds Monday afternoon, Dec. 18. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Tuesday morning, the awning at Dollar Tree in the Jay Plaza was damaged as was a barn on the Crash Road. The Androscoggin River was raging and had covered a large grassy area beside the POW-MIA Memorial Bridge on the Riley Road near the intersection with Route 4 in Jay.
Shortly after noon Tuesday, a post on the Jay-Niles Memorial Library Facebook page showed the driveway blocked by part of the bank. Some erosion also occurred in that area during the June storm. “Yet again…there is no way I can shovel it this time!” Tamara Hoke, library director wrote in the post. More than a foot of soil and vegetation covered the driveway. A comment later indicated Jay public works staff cleared the obstruction after seeing the post.
In addition to the flood warning there is a flash flood warning until 2 p.m. and a wind advisory [up to 55 mph] until 2 p.m., Jay Fire Rescue posted on its Facebook page. Conditions are bad outside and fire crews have been out steady tending to trees on lines and trees down,” it noted.
Tuesday Livermore Fire Rescue was toned out at 16:31 military time [4:30 p.m.] for a motorist trapped in rising water on the River Road, Chief Donald Castonguay said Thursday.
Firefighter Jeremy Emerson, who is also a selectperson, said Tuesday night he was the first person on scene. He arrived back at the town office/fire station complex about 5:45 p.m., just before the selectpersons meeting.
Emerson said he waded out into the high water until it reached about to his hips, at which time he turned around to wait for other firefighters to arrive. “It was bad,” he stated. “I couldn’t see anything.”
Livermore’s new Engine 1 and Rescue 4 responded as did two trucks from Livermore Falls, Emerson said. Seven personnel responded from Livermore and six from Livermore Falls on the side Emerson was on. At the intersection of Schoolhouse Hill and River roads, the water was six to six and a half feet deep, he noted. He estimated the water level where the motorist’s truck was at three feet, if not more.
“The truck’s still there,” Emerson said. “She’s floating.”
Castonguay said Livermore Falls responded in case rope work was needed for the rescue. “We didn’t need to, we did everything with the boat,” he noted. “It seems like we responded to one continuous call during the storm. Probably six or seven times. There were trees down everywhere.”
The Androscoggin River rushes under the POW/MIA Memorial Bridge Tuesday morning, Dec. 19, in Jay. The bridge is part of Riley Road and the bridge which accesses an island can be seen in the distance at left. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Tuesday morning, 1,610 of Central Maine Power Co.’s 2,523 customers in Jay were without power. In Livermore 1,147 out of 1,351 customers lacked power while 923 of 1,695 in Livermore Falls were in the dark. Wednesday morning, 1,400 customers in Jay, 629 in Livermore and 311 in Livermore still didn’t have electricity.
Thursday morning CMP reported no customers in those towns without power, but many towns and cities across the state were still waiting for the lights to come back on. Chesterville, whose 857 customers were in the dark Tuesday saw that improve slightly to 763 Wednesday and 715 Thursday. Farmington was down to 417 without power Thursday night. Monday about 2:40 p.m. that number was 1,081 out of 4,165 customers.
Thursday the Livermore Falls Advertiser reached out to RSU Superintendent Scott Albert after hearing Spruce Mountain High School was being used as a shelter.
“We did not become a warming center,” he wrote in an email Thursday. “We were an emergency shelter for Pinnacle patients/clients [a facility in Canton]. They reached out to us early Tuesday morning because to my knowledge their normal emergency evacuation plans were not going to work because of lack of accessible transportation and accessible site to get to because of the flooding up toward Rumford/Mexico.”
The district was able to send a few buses and a van to get 96 patients/clients and their caregivers, Albert noted. “We had them stay overnight in our high school gym,” he wrote. “We bused them back to their facility yesterday morning when the water had receded and the danger was over.”
Pieces of tar and rocks are seen Monday afternoon, Dec. 18, in high water surrounding a pole at the intersection of Greenridge Way and Route 4 in Jay. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
Power flickered on Monday but was available from Tuesday on, Albert noted. “Because of the short amount of time with no power and the fact the high school & primary school have generators that run everything in our buildings we were all set,” he wrote. “We do have smaller generators at the middle & elementary schools that will run our boilers so things do not freeze up.”
When RSU 73 resumed classes, buses couldn’t reach students on several roads due to some wires still being down and water across roads. In Jay, Route 140 past Davenport Hill Road plus Plaisted and Claybrook roads were affected. Buses could not go on Norlands and Robinson roads. No routes in Livermore Falls were impacted.
An article in the Sun Journal provided amounts of rain recorded in some towns during the storm. The amount for Livermore Falls was 4.07 inches and Farmington was 5.16. A Facebook post by Thomas Skolfield of Weld, a former state representative, indicated there are 27,154 gallons per inch of rain per acre. By that calculation, Livermore Falls received almost 110,517 gallons per acre during the storm and Farmington about 140,115.
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