Crossroads Diner owner, Frank Del Duca, gave out 40 meat loaves to truckers stuck on the side of the road and other needy people. Louis Luna and Vinnie DeMaio helped, too. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
BETHEL — At Crossroads Diner on Mayville Road, owner Frank Del Duca cooked ground beef and corned beef in the dark.
He made 40 meatloaf dinners on his propane-generated grill and oven, and offered them free to whoever needed a hot meal. He served another 60 people free breakfast, too. “We’re pulling this together,” said Del Duca. The diner had no power besides the stovetop and oven, and wasn’t technically open, but he said people knew to come.
Del Duca’s generosity came after a powerful storm wreaked extensive damage to homes and streets around Bethel and left many areas flooded and without power for three days, Dec. 18 through Dec. 20. Maine Governor Janet Mills declared a state of civil emergency on Wed., Dec. 19 in Oxford County, and 13 other counties across the state.
Del Duca said one group came into Crossroads with their parents who had fled Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, “it broke my heart… it helped me to know how fortunate I really am,” he said.
For anyone who opted to eat-in (“not many did,” said Del Duca), they ate by the light of one hurricane lantern.
Jillian Burrill and her father, John Kimball, both of Albany Township, were there Tuesday night, “My dad and I brought a meal to my grandmother who lives in the elderly housing on Main Street. We also grabbed two extras after realizing there were two men in one of the tractor trailer trucks who were stuck on the [nearby] overpass,” said Burrill.
That was Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning Del Duca, still in the dark, had run out of meat, but offered a patron an egg sandwich and a coffee.
“I should really make them sandwiches and bring them over,” said Del Duca referring to the two jack-knifed truck drivers still stranded on the nearby overpass.
Lights on
About a mile away, the lights were on at the convenience store at Irving Gas Station on Mayville Road. Across the street, The Good Food Store was flooded, as were acres and acres of farmland behind the Irving Gas Station oasis.
A couple dozen people were inside the store. Some were trying to figure out how to make coffee from the coffee machines. Mail Carrier Kyle Snogren, of Bethel, was waiting for the water to subside outside. He was unable to deliver mail to several flooded parts of his route.
Cashier, Lory Currier had a line of patrons. She had been there all night sleeping for a few minutes at a time in a chair. Currier had shut down the store at 6:30 p.m. Monday night but couldn’t get home to Andover because flooded roads blocked her passage, so she stayed and opened the store in the morning.
While Irving had electricity, they had run out of gas.
Sugar Shack
“The devastation is devastating, [but] the response of the people in town is heartwarming. It makes me feel like it’s going to be OK” said Anthony Wells, whose popular West Bethel Road restaurant, the Bethel Sugar Shack, was flooded. The water in the basement had risen to the the height of Wells’ shoulders. He is five feet, nine inches.
Wells said Josh Mowery, Mark McPherson, John Wheeler and Chris Cordwell all stopped by to offer their help. He said his brother drove two and a half hours to help, too.
Pointing to several pieces of equipment around the parking lot, he said, “That’s my generator. [But] none of these pumps are mine.”
Telstar
Starting at varying times, Dec. 18, nearly all of Bethel lost power. Bethel Fire Chief Mike Jodrey called SADD-44 School Superintendent, Mark Kenny and asked if the Telstar library could open as a warming station until power was restored. Besides the staff, about six people were using the space at Noon on Wednesday.
Principal’s Secretary Wendy Hanscom was in her office. She said her son had lost belongings in his trailer, after it filled with storm water. They lost their vehicles, too, she said.
Lainey Cross and her mother Phyllis, 88, had arrived at Telstar library at 8:30 a. m, on Wednesday. They had been at home since Monday. With no blower on their wood furnace, the temperature was around 60 degrees. Typically they heat their Vernon Street home to 76 degrees, she said. Tim O’Connor had come by with a generator so they could charge their refrigerator and phone, “he’s a good neighbor,” said Cross.
Middle School Principal Lindsay Luetje and Dean of Students Brandy Moore staffed the library with the help of their children, Ade and Charlie Luetje and Thomas Moore.
Luetje said, besides the people sitting in the library, there were two people showering in the locker room. Hanscom said even though she had used the school’s showers during the 1998 ice storm, she would not be using them this time, “too many flashbacks to high school,” she said.
Luejte walked around the library with a basket, offering people oranges, ‘It’s a nice restaurant,” said a man who drank hot tea and was peeling an orange.
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