May 1: Fort Kent pix

Welcome to the Sunrise Herald, this morning with Dieter Bradbury, the place to go to get the news from overnight and beyond...

IN THE WEATHER

At 9 a.m., it was 52 degrees. Sunshine will be in good supply today, and temperatures will be slightly warmer, with highs in the mid-50s and a slight onshore breeze. Friday looks much the same, but the weekend could bring clouds.

ON THE ROAD:

• Workers will be busy on the Maine Turnpike today, and drivers may see delays in several locations. At mile 35 in Saco, a northbound double lane closure is scheduled between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for road work. In West Gardiner at the service plaza project, lane shifts and traffic restrictions will take place in connection with utility line installation.

ON THE OCEAN:

High tide today in Portland at 7:54 a.m. and 8:27 p.m. Tide was low around 1:43 a.m. and will be low again around 2:09 p.m. Winds will be out of the west at 5 to 10 knots, with seas running at 1 to 2 feet. The water temperature at the Portland Buoy was 47 degrees at 5 a.m.

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THE NEWEST NEWS

Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The St. John River is still flowing into the International Bridge between Fort Kent and
Claire, Canada, in this photo taken at 7 a.m. today. The river crested overnight
and is now receding.

8:30 a.m. report:
FORT KENT — The St. John River, which crested at a record 30 feet early Thursday, began inching lower this morning.

But many homes and businesses on both the Maine and Canadian sides of the river in Aroostook County remain flooded this morning, and emergency officials are keeping a close watch on bridges and dams.

No deaths or major injuries have been reported as a result of the flooding, said Mark Belserene, operations director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency. However, hundreds of residents have been displaced, and up to 40 people stayed at an emergency shelter at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, he said.

Officials were working to verify that elderly residents or those who live in isolated spots were safe and accounted for.

The river's retreat was welcome news to the people of this northern border town, who were worried that the river was going to breach the 30-foot-tall dike that protects downtown.

"It came up to within inches of going over," said Eugene Allen, who stayed with his girlfriend at the Northern Door Inn, a few hundred yards from the river. They were among dozens of residents evacuated.

A large section of downtown had already been inundated on Wednesday at the confluence of the St. John and Fish rivers. The murky water spilled over ballfields and parks and climbed several feet up the sides of many buildings. Dozens of properties have been damaged.

But many other homes and businesses remain protected by the dike, which was built to prevent against historic floods such as this.

The International Bridge and the Fish River Bridge in Fort Kent and a bridge in Van Buren will remain closed until the water recedes enough for engineers to do inspections under the bridge decks, Belserene said.

Belserene said local emergency officials were also keeping a close eye on a dam in Washburn, where waters were extremely high because of a washout in a smaller dam upstream.

Belserene said a major concern was the safety of sightseers, who were venturing into dangerous areas to view the flooding.

"There’s just too many people looking into too many areas that have a potential for danger," he said.

At the Northern Door Inn on Thursday morning, evacuees and employees looked out over the rushing river and the steel-framed bridge that connects Fort Kent with Claire, Canada.

Folks are still concerned, but they hope the town has dodged a much more serious threat.

"I think the fact that the snow melted slowly over the past two weeks, that was a miracle. I think it saved this town," Allen said.

Judy Nadeau, a resident of Claire, works at the Irving station in Fort Kent, and got stuck on the U.S. side when officials closed the bridge early on Wednesday. She will try to drive to Madawaska today, in order to cross back into Canada, to her husband and two children in Claire.

"It has been a panic," Nadeau said. "We were afraid of that bridge falling yesterday."

Nadeau, 46, has spent her life in this area. The only event she could compare to this was the flood of 1979. She was 15 years old and remembers the bridge was only closed for a few hours.

Now the bridge could be closed for days, as officials assess the structure and wait for the water to go down several feet below its base.

"It's amazing," Nadeau said. "We never thought the water would get so high."

The St. John crested at just over 30 feet sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., lower than the 32 feet officials had anticipated. That's about 6 feet above flood stage and is the highest level the river has attained since at least 1979.

Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for MEMA, said officials were also keeping an eye on flooding elsewhere in northern and central Maine, including a recent report from Milford. She said Penobscot River flooding there had forced the closure of Route 2 and several evacuations.

Belserene said state emergency officials in Augusta would be meeting this morning to assess the situation and confer with their counterparts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who would coordinate recovery activities.

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