Flooding in Canton started during the storm Dec. 18, with much of the flood not cleared away until Dec. 20. The white building, center on the left, is the Baptist Church on School Street which is part of Route 108. Submitted photo by the Maine Forest Service
CANTON — The special town meeting to vote on a moratorium for solar farm projects in town has been postponed until Jan. 11, selectmen decided Thursday.
The meeting was postponed because the board was unable to meet to prepare the warrant for the meeting last week because of flooded roads from the Dec. 18 storm.
The special town meeting will be held on Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Town Office Meeting Room.
During Thursday’s meeting, Selectman Chair Brian Keene said that the town’s lawyer has reviewed and approved an ordinance that residents will decide upon at their Jan. 11 meeting. The article will include a moratorium of 180 days for new solar farm projects in town.
In other business, the selectmen, along with Fire Chief Jason Vaughan, discussed how the town fared from the torrential rain, wind and flooding that occurred starting Dec. 18.
Vaughan noted that more than 90 residents from Pinnacle Health and Rehab on Pleasant Street, a section of Route 108, were evacuated Tuesday because of flooding. The residents were sent overnight until Wednesday to stay at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay, Vaughan said.
“You could drive in there (Pinnacle Health) but they were kind of cut off from emergency services getting to them quickly so that’s part of their emergency action plan, is to evacuate (under those circumstances),” Vaughan said.
A car is submerged in flooding on School Street, part of Route 140, in Canton from the storm that started Dec. 18. Submitted photo.
Firefighters rescued six people by boat who had attempted to drive through the flooding. There were two vehicles on School Street that were immersed in the flood that the firefighters could not reach. “They managed to get out on their own and found their own way home,” he said.
Within the first day of the storm, the fire department responded to 19 calls that were for trees down in the roads or to rescue people, Vaughan said.
Selectwoman Michelle Larrivee remarked that the intersection at Main Street on Route 108 and School Street on Route 140 was blocked off due to flooding from Monday afternoon to late afternoon Wednesday.
Larrivee and Keene, along with Selectmen Carole Robbins, Kristi Carrier and Rob Walker, agreed that the volunteer fire department “did an amazing job keeping everyone safe, doing rescues as well as our public works department also did a really good job,” Larrivee said.
Carrier said that she appreciated how residents on Canton Mountain Road, where she lives, “checked on each other” to see if their neighbors needed help or supplies during the storm. The area was “kind of its own island,” and by Wednesday residents “were all (getting together) to figure out how to get gas for a couple neighbors,” she said.
Flooding in Canton from the storm that started Dec. 18 with much of the flood not cleared away until Dec. 20. Submitted photo
In other news, Walker told the board that the town does not need to take special precautions for the endangered species Atlantic salmon fry in the Bog Brook area on Campbell Road since there aren’t any salmon in the area because of dams in the Androscoggin River, he said.
During a meeting earlier this month the area was identified as a site where two endangered species, Atlantic salmon fry and the northern long-eared bat, were located. The discovery of the two endangered species was made as the town is working with FEMA disaster relief mitigation staff to receive funding to repair the road.
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