MEXICO — A flash flood eroded a part of Oakdale Country Club Wednesday, ripped down at least one tree and plunged through woods.

The deluge deposited large cobblestones, mud and woody debris in backyards along Highland Terrace and Route 2 before crossing WOXO-FM Radio’s property and overflowing onto Route 2.

A river of mud and woody debris also flowed down Country Club Road on the other side of the radio station, the basement of which was filled with mud and four feet of water, station manager Mark Gaudet said.

At one point, water rushing across Route 2 carried the station’s shed and pallet walkway from the backyard. A culvert under the highway had become innundated and plugged, worsening the flooding.

“There was a foot of water across Route 2, and the WOXO shed looked like a fishing shack on it,” said David Saphier, Mexico and Dixfield fire departments’ medical officer. Crews had to push the shed back onto dry land twice, he said.

At 1 p.m., the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency issued a flash flood watch for the county via its Facebook site. The message said showers and thunderstorms would develop and produce torrential rainfall.

“These showers and thunderstorms have the potential to redevelop over the same areas, especially over the foothills and mountains,” the message said. “Given a very humid air mass, this could lead to significant amounts of rainfall in a short time and flash flooding.”

Prior to the flood, Gaudet said rain was falling heavily at the station at 3:20 p.m.

“It was coming down pretty good, but there was no water out here,” Gaudet said of the yard while standing shin-deep in mud and water in the station’s flooded backyard.

“That was a long, heavy downpour that we had,” he said. “I mean, it was coming down hard, and it looked like a river going right down (Country Club Road).”

He said he figured it would stop raining so hard and everything would be fine. So he headed home for supper, then got a surprise long distance call about 30 minutes later.

“One of my buddies calls me all the way from (North Carolina), Eric Giroux,” Gaudet said. “He’s a fireman from Rumford, and he said, ‘There’s a problem down at the radio station. My scanner just went off. You better go check that out.'”

Mexico firefighters and a Maine Department of Transportation crew were called to the intersection of Highland Terrace and Route 2 after Mexico police Lt. Roy Hodsdon radioed the dispatch center. Hodsdon said water was rushing over Route 2 and had washed out curbing along Highland Terrace. Crews hurried down there to direct traffic and unplug the culvert.

“Next thing I know, the radio station is calling me from Norway: ‘The Fire Department needs to get into the radio station. They’re saying the cellar is full of water,'” Gaudet said. “And I was like, ‘I was just down there a half hour ago!’

“I get down here, and there was water everywhere,” he said. “It was unbelievable.

“It looked like a river, but it was going right down the road. There was something starting when I left, but it didn’t look like anything. And then, whoof! There was 4 feet of water in the cellar.”

Firefighters began pumping water out of the cellar and into the culvert. Floodwaters filled the Walmart drainage ditch on the west side of Route 2, flowing toward the Androscoggin River.

While standing shin-deep in mud in the station yard as the flash flood flowed behind him, Gaudet bent down and picked up the remains of a sand rake from the golf course up on the hill behind the station.

“We are now part owners of the country club, I guess,” he said, remarking on all the sediment washed down from the course and onto the station’s lawn.

Heavy rains also fell in the Swift River Watershed and turned the Swift River water brown from eroded sediment at Black Bridge in Mexico.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray confirmed the deluge, but said they hadn’t received word on how many inches fell.

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