OXFORD COUNTY, Maine — Maine’s western mountains are used to severe weather, but Monday’s storm was unlike what many locals had seen.
Hours after sunrise Tuesday, the Androscoggin River's footprint remained well beyond its banks.
Along portions of Route 2, the waterway had expanded hundreds of lateral feet onto the road, surrounding homes and cutting off travel. Smaller streams nearby had overgrown as well, blocking back routes. According to multiple residents along the way, it left them with no navigable route between the Bethel and Rumford areas.
In Rumford and nearby Mexico, emergency crews searched for two people who were traveling in a vehicle across a bridge between the two towns when they were swept away by the current Monday evening. A body of one of the missing people was recovered, Mexico town manager told NEWS CENTER Maine on Wednesday.
In Windham and Fairfield the day before, officials said two men were each killed by falling trees, marking the first fatalities from the storm.
In Newry, home of the Sunday River Ski resort, company spokesperson Ellen Wainwright said Tuesday all staff and guests were accounted for.
Guests of the resort's Grand Summit Hotel were safe but stranded throughout Tuesday, as the entrance to the hotel's access road had become a cavernous valley. A quiet brook grew into raging rapids and tossed the road's culvert dozens of feet into the woods. A crew from Everett Excavation worked hastily Tuesday to build a temporary access bridge.
"We have been communicating to all of our guests [Monday]," Wainwright said just before noon Tuesday. "Our lodging team is fantastic – texts, calls, 24/7. Guests have been able to get answers to their questions. This morning, the general manager for the Grand Summit Hotel was making everybody breakfast; there were games. Operations at the hotel were normal outside of the events that were going on outside."
Handfuls of guests made their way down to inspect the scene. A few of them gave a thumbs up when we asked if they were alright.
Wainwright said the mountain's manmade and natural snowfalls added to the storm's torrent Monday as it melted. In addition to bulging waterways, a mudslide shoved earth into and through a Gould Academy building on the mountain.
While crews worked to repair roads, Sunday River staff wrote on its website Wednesday morning that they planned to reopen a portion of the mountain that Saturday.
"Any guests with tickets, rentals and lessons booked through Friday, Dec. 22, will be refunded automatically," staff wrote.
About 1 mile down the road from the resort, Leo Menard’s truck had fallen into a washout and was pitched at a 45-degree angle. The 30-year resident said he was driving at 4:30 Monday afternoon when the road simply collapsed beneath his wheels.
"We couldn’t see," he said, standing and directing traffic around his truck. "It was pitch dark. You couldn’t see what was going on. All of a sudden the truck dropped off."
Closer to seas level, some residents remained focused on survival and recovery.
Christal Treadwell owns and lives in the old Gregory Inn in Mexico. She woke up Tuesday morning with water from the Androscoggin lapping on her porch. She filmed a Facebook Live as two people sat in a minivan on what used to be the road in front of her home. The water kept coming, submerging a significant portion of the van.
"The water seems to be rising again," Treadwell said, looking out onto the scene. "I’m hoping it’s gonna go the other way soon."
She took photos as emergency crews in a boat came and removed the couple to safety. Hours later, Treadwell told us she and her tenants were themselves waiting for her stepson and/or first responders to arrive with a boat to evacuate their home.
As the sun set Tuesday, the water in many places remained high, but Christal and her tenants would be dry.
"Made it out," she sent in a text. But what would she return to when the flood finally receded?