Sections of Wheeler Hill Road are almost completely washed out from the heavier than usual rains of late. The Phillips road crew will be challenged over the next few weeks to repair them. (David Hart photo) PHILLIPS - - Rain, rain and more rain over the past month. A general discouragement for some, but in the case of an early heavy rainstorm last Saturday morning, the rain had damaging affect on the Town of Phillips' infrastructure.

According to Phillips Fire Chief James Gould, nearly an inch an hour was received over a three to four hour period in Phillips. As a result, responders were called out about 1:30 a.m. to assist in dealing with major damage to roadways.

Franklin County was hit hard with rain, but based on initial reports of damage to Wheeler Hill, Tory Hill Road and Route 142; it's believed that Phillips was the hardest hit.

Based on an already full water basin, storm run-off created heavy and fast moving streams on many roads in Phillips. Water rushed through roadways leaving debris and boulders across streets and washed away tar roads creating single lane only traffic after they were re-opened.

An assessment on Sunday showed that huge boulders were moved by the mighty force of Mother Nature, new sand deposits were created and deep holes were dug. Tar roads were reduced to looking at best like abandoned logging road and nearly impassable.

Road crews and emergency responders used heavy equipment to open dangerous roads after the heavy rains subsided.

Some holes along roadways and what was the actual part of the existing roads had holes as deep a four feet and created deposits as high as three feet.

Many in attendance at the Phillips Town Meeting were late following the storm trying to find alternate routes or simply in awe of the damage from the previous night.

According to reports, many miles of roads were lost. Much of Route 142's major damage was addressed early Saturday morning before additional damage had occurred to the road. The side shoulders still experienced heavy erosion with the Sunday morning heavy rainfall.

Wheeler Hill Road looked like a one-lane dirt road at the intersection of Route 142 and Tory Hill Road and had barricades over broken tar sections that were impassable and dangerous.

With the rain continuing to fall on Sunday, Tory Hill Road was a four-wheel drive choice for some of those who had to travel it. With rain continuing on Sunday and Monday, conditions continued to dwindle.

Needless to say, representatives of the local highway department were unavailable for comments at the time.