enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Warren Higgins, left, and Chip Edgecomb of the Maine Department of Transportation inspect the International Bridge.

enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

With the level of the St. John River dropping, branches and other debris can be seen wedged under the International Bridge.

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FORT KENT — The flood-struck border community of Fort Kent took a big step back toward life as usual Saturday afternoon when engineers reopened the International Bridge to Clair, New Brunswick.

"It feels normal," said Town Manager Don Guimond, watching traffic flow across the St. John River for the first time in nearly four days.

The bridge was closed to traffic at 3 a.m. Wednesday, after a 3-inch rainstorm and melting snow pushed the St. John River to the highest levels ever recorded. Flooding of the St. John and nearby Fish River swamped homes, businesses and the landmark St. Louis Catholic Church.

Authorities feared the 78-year-old steel bridge, already on the state's watch list because of its age and condition, would be washed away as floodwaters and debris pounded against its side.

At the peak flow of the river, the St. John surged against and under the bridge at a rate of 175,000 cubic feet per second, by far the highest ever recorded in 80 years of measuring, according to Greg Stewart, data section chief for the U.S. Geological Survey in Maine. Flows that large are only expected to happen once in several hundred years, he said.

"This was a very historic event," Stewart said. "This was a significantly bigger flow than that bridge has ever seen. It's never had that much force against it."

On Saturday, with the St. John 9 feet below its crest, engineers from Maine and New Brunswick removed debris and examined the structure for damage.

"There were no bent beams, the bridge was plumb and straight, and the bearings that connect the bridge to its support piers were still intact," Maine DOT Chief Bridge Maintenance Engineer John Buxton said in a press statement.

Closed highways included portions of state Route 11, one of the region's major roads, said the Aroostook Emergency Management Agency's Darren Woods. While damage assessments were being done from the ground, warden pilots photographed from the air 227 homes that had been flooded.

Officials said more flood-damaged homes are expected to be catalogued in the days ahead.

"We're still sheltering people in three communities -- Fort Kent, Van Buren and Island Falls," said Woods.

Damage-assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to arrive in the area early this week. Miller noted that other areas of Maine, including Penobscot County, have also sustained flood damage.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency asked those whose homes or businesses were damaged by flooding to call 211 and report their losses. MEMA Director Robert McAleer said the call is not an application for assistance, but to help officials assess what kinds of assistance might be available.

State Attorney General Steven Rowe, meanwhile, warned flood victims to be wary of scams. He said door-to-door salespeople hit the streets after natural disasters offering cleanup and repair services. While many of those people are reputable, some are not.

The reopening of the International Bridge at 4 p.m. was more than a symbolic step in the recovery for Fort Kent.

About 500 to 600 cars cross the bridge each day, and people on both sides routinely travel back and forth despite having to show a passport.

Many people have family on both sides of the bridge, or cross it daily to work or go to school.

With the bridge closed, the nearest crossing was 20 miles away in Madawaska.

"That bridge is very, very important," said Rose Babbin, a Fort Kent resident.

Babbin's daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter live in St. Francis, New Brunswick, but all work in Fort Kent. "It took two hours to get to work," she said, so they slept at her house last week.

The 731-foot-long bridge, which is maintained jointly by governments on both sides, is scheduled to be replaced in 2010, said Jim Doucette, northern Maine bridge manager for the Maine DOT. "It's like a boxer and...