June 29, 2009 Maine roads crumble under flooding Play video

(NECN: Amy Sinclair, South Rumford, Maine) - Life is normally pretty quiet on this South Rumford road in western Maine. But on Saturday night, nature let loose.

"I've never seen rain coming down so fast and furious ever," South Rumford resident Sonia Thibodeau said.

Flash floods overwhelmed culverts, putting roads across Oxford County under water.

"In this area we've got four roads with shoulder washouts, some loss of culverts," MDOT maintenance and ops. Director David Bernhardt said.

Crews have been working for two straight days to get the Andover road reopened by Tuesday, but the South Rumford road will not be open to thru traffic for the foreseeable future.

A 14 foot bridge that spanned Thurston Stream is gone.

Sonia Thibodeau's neighbor abandoned his pick up here in the raging water just before the slab collapsed.

"It was scary it shook me up, because my kids and husband had just come across and it could have been them," Thibodeau said.

They will need $1.6 million to qualify for FEMA emergency funds, but because this storm was so localized, damages may only reach $600,000. That means the bill for this storm will be picked up by towns and the state.

Replacing this bridge will be up to the Maine Department of Transportation.

"The bridge itself, we don't know. We may launch a temporary bridge or we may just wait and put in a new structure," Bernhardt said.

For 9-year-old Kenrick Thibodeau,

"We used to fish here. Now the brook's destroyed. It's a little sad," Kenrick said.

But for motorists, it will be a major hassle -- there is no easy detour.

And locals will probably never look at their normally quiet brooks and streams the same way again.

NECN's Amy Sinclair reports.