When 20-year-old Hope Rogers rented her Medway Road cabin in Mattawamkeag two weeks ago, she looked forward to living by the Penobscot River – not in it.

But when floodwaters crested overnight Wednesday, Rogers and landlord David Owens found themselves surrounded by water.

“The water was about a foot away from the house. It was on the four sides around us,” Rogers said Friday. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to come any closer or not. It got pretty close.”

Rogers and Owens joined the hundreds of Mainers around northern and eastern Maine affected this week by rising waters from rain and spring runoff.

Larry Scofield stood Friday on the front porch of his home on Route 2 in Milford, grilling cheeseburgers for lunch, keeping an eye on his dogs Cassie and Punkin, and enjoying a sunny day off from his job at Red Shield Environmental in Old Town.

Except for the 6 inches of water in his yard, it might have been a regular afternoon with his wife, Elnora.

Scofield is one of dozens of residents living along the Main Road in Milford who were affected this week by the flooded Penobscot River, which crested at about 8 p.m. Thursday.

Some residents left on their own or were evacuated. Others stayed. By Friday afternoon, however, almost everyone was in good spirits, waiting out the receding water and starting the cleanup process as sections of Route 2 remained closed.

You live on the river, you know it’s coming, many said.

Scofield, for one, was prepared. He moved everything out of his basement, which Friday afternoon was filled with water. His furnace is on the ground floor of his home. Scofield had a canoe at the ready, sitting next to the house, to get to his truck parked on higher ground.

The husband and wife had no designs on leaving their home, even as the water got higher. In some places, Milford Fire Chief Chris Matson said, there was about 2 feet of water on the road.

“Don’t need to,” Scofield said of leaving. “We’ve always got food on hand. … You kind of learn how to deal with it.”

Farther south on Route 2, Hy Way Service owner Larry Robbins said there was about 5 feet of water around his auto salvage business on Thursday, but he didn’t lose anything valuable.

“We shut all the power off, pulled all the plugs on the computers,” he said. “There ain’t nothing you’re gonna do about it.”

French Settlement and Greenfield roads, which intersect with Route 2, were partially underwater although at least one compact car was able to churn through the water Friday afternoon on the French Settlement Road.

Matson said there were about six homes that were not evacuated despite significant flooding. The department had helped evacuate four or five households since Wednesday night.

“Most people decided to leave on their own,” said Matson, who is also Milford’s emergency management director. “That helped a lot because we didn’t have to evacuate them. … People are coming back now, trying to get their homes in order.”

Clean drinking water is a major concern now, Matson said. Residents who are concerned their well water has been contaminated can pick up a well test kit at the Milford Fire Department.

Homeowners should also be careful of waterlogged heating and electrical systems, Matson added.

The Helen S. Dunn School in Greenbush reopened Friday, although students coming from Route 2 south had to detour around the flooded spots. The school was closed Thursday because the road was impassable.

A section of Route 178 in Bradley also was still closed as water receded.

While flooding forced the evacuation of about 15 homes in Mattawamkeag and scattered evacuations or washed-over roads in Howland, Millinocket, Medway and assorted other spots in Northern Penobscot County, the water largely stayed in areas where flooding is common during the heaviest rains and snowmelts.

As of Friday, waters were still lining swamps along Route 157 in Mattawamkeag but had clearly begun to recede, while the evacuees were starting to move back in. Still, others in those towns were coping with another form of flooding – basement water.

In Millinocket, John DiCentes was among several dozen Congress, State and Water streets residents who had flooded basements, he said.

While most of the houses are old, DiCentes blames the flooding on their proximity to Millinocket Stream, the stream’s being controlled as part of the network of hydro dams operated by Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., and the loss of 10 paper machines at the former Great Northern Paper Co. mill in Millinocket, which used river water as part of their operations.

“They haven’t manned the stream and lakes right,” DiCentes said. “They let too much water in.”

DiCentes and other residents will pursue the basement flooding problem with state and federal officials, he said.

As floodwaters receded around Aroostook County on Friday, officials began opening roadways and assessing damage.

The U.S. Customs House in Van Buren, where travelers have to stop before crossing the International Bridge into St. Leonard, New Brunswick, remained closed until further notice.

“We’re not sure if that building is still on solid ground or not,” Charles Laplante, Van Buren councilman, said Friday afternoon. “When water is pushing against the international bridge and the customs house is shaking, it’s time to close things down.”

The municipal sewage system serving the area of Keegan remained off line and Laplante said 19 portable toilets had been brought in for residents’ use.

“The system should be up and running this weekend,” he said.

“We are still in a state of emergency,” Laplante said. “But we expect to resume somewhat normal operations by Monday.”

Residents may monitor the local cable television channel for situation updates, Laplante said.

In Madawaska Town Manager Christine Therrien said some problem areas remained in the wake of the week’s flooding with several roads washed out and areas of erosion along brooks.

The biggest impact was felt by Fraser Paper, which was forced to shut down in Madawaska when the St. John River came within two feet of the pipe carrying steam from the mill’s sister facility in Edmundston, New Brunswick.

“They generate the power on the Canadian side, and it comes across the river in the steam line,” Therrien said. “If the cold river water had hit that heated pipe, it could have caused what’s called a thermal shock and that could cause substantial damage.”

Using boilers on-site, the Madawaska mill was eventually able to get three of eight machines operational by the end of the week, Therrien said.

“They lost about three days of operations,” she said.

Farther south in Washburn, Town Manager Andrea Powers said things are looking up after some flooding of the Salmon Brook as it passes through town.

Officials are keeping their eyes on the upper and lower Mill Pond Dams, which Powers said did have some structural damage.

“The lower dam has some cracks but seems all right,” she said. “The upper dam is an earthen dam with a culvert system, and several of those culverts collapsed and four are severely damaged.”

About 30 homes, a day care center and the town’s recreation center are located below those dams, Powers said.

“We were very fortunate to have all hands on deck to help this week,” she said. “Everything came together, and the emergency plan was well executed.”

BDN writers Jessica Bloch and Nick Sambides and freelance writer Julia Bayly contributed to this report.