SACO, Maine (CN) — Mainers watched in disbelief as an extraordinary combination of high winds, heavy rain, and a never-before-seen high tide caused unprecedented damage and destruction along Maine’s long jagged coast in just a matter of hours. It’ll take years for things to be completely restored.
A record-high tide and powerful storm surge on Jan. 13 destroyed generations-old fishing wharves, damaged and flooded oceanside homes, swamped neighborhoods, demolished roadways, eroded beaches and swept old fishing shacks and other structures out to sea.
In Camp Ellis, a small seaside community in the southern Maine town of Saco, the ocean washed away roads, wiped out seawalls and crashed into beachfront homes. Waters destroyed a marina pier and flooded the town-owned Camp Ellis Pier in knee-high water, leaving behind a foot-and-a-half of sand when they receded.
“I think people are still in that anxiety mode to figure out what the next step is,” said Camp Ellis homeowner David Plavin as he walked over sand-covered streets pointing out the damage. “We’re getting there, but it’ll take time.”
Maine's coast was first hit by a torrential storm on Jan. 10 with near-hurricane winds, rain and snow, and the third-highest tide ever recorded in Portland, the state’s largest city. Still reeling from that battering, an even more-intense storm lashed three days later with an even higher tide — the highest on record — along with 20-foot waves and wind gusts up to 60 mph that wreaked havoc along the state’s 3,500-mile coastline.
Maine’s coast is a tourist destination in the summer with its beaches and rocky coast, lobster shacks and temperate weather. But one of the most pressing concerns now is the impact to the state’s working waterfronts, which fishermen and other commercial interests rely on for their livelihoods. Maine has a diverse seafood industry, known not only for lobsters but also for clams, scallops, tuna, mussels and fish species such as haddock and cod.
An aerial survey by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and reports from property owners showed extensive damage from Kittery in the south to Eastport, the nation’s easternmost city, along the Canadian border. Maine’s 15 year-round island communities also bore the brunt.
Coastal communities are struggling as they assess the damages and figure out how to proceed and pay for rebuilding. In Stonington, for example, the storm washed away piers and a lobster pound where lobsters are stored, and also damaged downtown businesses. Farther east in the fishing village of Corea, seven of the harbor’s 24 wharves are gone, and most of the others are damaged.
“Everyone is appalled at what the storms have done to our community," said Brianna Mitchell, senior deputy town clerk in Gouldsboro, where Corea is located. "This hurts many fishermen as they need use of their property and belongings to make an income. There are fishermen who even lost traps along with dealing with damage to their boats. These are not cheap repairs."
In Camp Ellis late last week, front-end loaders were busy filling washed out roads with sand so they could be rebuilt, while steam shovels lifted large boulders off the beach to place back on the protective seawall where they belong. Small Bobcat loaders cleared roads, driveways and yards of tons of sand. The same scene is occurring in scores of harbors and oceanfront communities along the coast.
Camp Ellis homeowners like Joseph Kehoe are determining their next steps. Kehoe watched from a second-story window as waves on Jan. 13 destroyed part of the concrete seawall in front of his house, crashed onto his home and wiped out part of the foundation, sending water pouring into his basement. The intensity of the waves tore off protective boards from his front porch and portions of his roof.
“The porch, roof, foundation, everything’s gone,” said Kehoe, who bought his house four years ago. “I should have bought a lake house instead of a beach house.”
Hundreds of businesses have submitted damage reports and photos to the state. State agencies, philanthropic groups and nonprofits have compiled lists of financial, technical and disaster relief resources that can help property owners. The Maine Emergency Management Agency has been soliciting damage reports as a first formal step for the state to request a major disaster declaration from the federal government.
Maine has been experiencing more frequent and ferocious storms in recent years that scientists say have been brought on by climate change that has resulted in rising seas and warming ocean temperatures. That worries people about what the future may bring.
Plavin was somber as he surveyed the damages at his oceanfront home: a wooden seawall pushed over, siding ripped off his home, his patio destroyed, his roof damaged, a flagpole snapped in half. But what’s most troubling is that vicious weather outbursts are no longer uncommon. And it’s not just the coast — in December, torrential rains flooded rivers and caused widespread damage to inland roads, homes and businesses.
Plavin said there have been four “generational storms” in Camp Ellis the past five years. “When I first moved here and there was a big storm, somebody said it was a one-in-10-year storm,” Plavin said. “Here is it five years later, and we’ve had four of them.”
It’s those types of concerns that prompted Maine Governor Janet Mills to call a special meeting of the Maine Climate Council this week to discuss the impacts of the recent storms on Maine and how the state can strengthen its resilience to future extreme weather events.
Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, said the recent storms now “represent the new norm.”
“We know that the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than most other oceans on the planet, which means sea levels will rise, causing more flooding events in coastal areas,” he said. “Those effects can be made worse when we have the storm surges we see from major events like these. We’re encouraging people who are rebuilding to plan construction that is resilient to rising sea levels, and we will be working to identify guidance to support that process.”
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